Many of us are familiar with the various ways to protect intellectual property; especially if you read Ken Parker’s previous posts on copyrights, patents and trademarks.  But how do you protect the electronically stored information that actually is the intellectual property?  Data such as drawings, financial projections and marketing plans?  A recent study found that 59% of employees steal company data upon their departure.  An even greater number take data that the company may not define as critical or proprietary and just about every departing employee takes something, even if it is personal photos or documents. 

The truth is, many of these employees create folders with names like, “pics”, “kids school stuff”, or “vacation ideas” that contain file after file of company data that should not be walking out the door.  Though these acts are still punishable even if discovered much later, it is better for the company to find out immediately.  Ultimately, the goal is to prevent it from happening at all.

So what steps can be taken to prevent, or at least uncover these acts of trade secret theft?  The options range from very conservative, such as locking down workstations, to very liberal solutions like having a company representative escort an employee out of the office upon termination.  In the latter case, the employee is simply not allowed to transfer any files prior to leaving.  The problem with waiting until the employee is leaving is that most of the time, particularly if the employee has been expecting this moment,  the data has already been transferred and the damage is done. 

My firm, Lateral Consulting Group, advises clients in the more conservative ways to prevent and detect potential data theft.  Using a mix of technolgy, proven methodologies and computer forensics we are able to tailor a solution to each company’s needs.  I’m happy to help but I’ll have to stop here though, since divulging exactly how we do it is, well, a secret.