As layoffs continue apace, a survey shows what many companies fear–exiting workers are taking a lot more with them than just their personal plants and paperweights.
Of about 950 people who said they had lost or left their jobs during the last 12 months, nearly 60 percent admitted to taking confidential company information with them, including customer contact lists and other data that could potentially end up in the hands of a competitor for the employee’s next job stint.
“I don’t think these people see themselves as being thieves or as stealing,” said Larry Ponemon, founder of the Ponemon Institute, which conducted the online survey last month. “They feel they have a right to the information because they created it or it is useful to them and not useful to the employer…”
The survey also found that many companies seem to be lax in protecting against data theft during layoffs. Eighty-two percent of the respondents said their employers did not perform an audit or review of documents before the employee headed out the door and 24 percent said they still had access to the corporate network after leaving the building.
Har! Confirms what most IT geeks already know. Most of what is labeled “hacking” in the press is someone using info that walked out the door.
Most geeks I know – even those who have one – don’t know what a Sanseveria is.
#1 Georgio, those grow like weeds around here.
Ha! It serves them right for that “If you thought it while you were working for us then it belongs to the company” policy.
This is more a security story than a theft story. An employer has a responsibility to do more than just make people sign a piece of paper that says “Don’t take stuff”.
“nearly 60 percent admitted to taking confidential company information with them, including customer contact lists” So instead of taking all their business cards they collected from customers over the years. Their taking their Outlook contact list. WOW
“Eighty-two percent of the respondents said their employers did not perform an audit or review of documents before the employee headed out the door”
So how would an audit show whether anything had been copied to a thumb drive?
Most of the places I’ve ever worked had NOTHING I would want to take with me. The only really valuable thing most of them had was customer/client good will, and to the extent that I helped create that, that much I did take with me.
Been going on since the start of time.
Oh isn’t this just some sour grapes argument? It’s Ok for the corporate execs to waltz off with valuable trade secrets. But just don’t let the mail boy try it. Or the Feds will be kicking down his door. Corporations are full of paranoid incompetents. Who rather blame all their fiascos on the workers and on some kind of sabotage. And many already have a contract clause claiming exclusive ownership of anything an employee creates during, and after, their time there. Up to a couple of years. I once turned down an assembly line job, for a circuit board maker. Because they wanted ownership of A-N-Y ideas I came up with. Even if it didn’t involve my job. They just naturally assume stupid workers can’t possible have a good idea outside of some tedious job they gave them.
You’re dumb coming in the door, but brilliant going out of it. Or at least smart enough to steal some ideas from the company. And they want to further exploit American know-how, with some blanket employment policy for all of us. Government enforced, no doubt. Like the copyright laws.
Too bad this doesn’t apply to US politicians, going to work as lobbyists for the very corporations they were once charged with regulating. Oh but of course, they all live by a different set of rules, from the rest of us.
This one place I was laid off from, was so cowardly about facing with the bad news (I got canned by phone!), that they never asked for all the door keys I had to the place. I could have walked back in at night and robbed them blind, at any time. But I guess they were counting on me being more honest than they were. I’m not menacing! They could have told me to my face that I was laid off. But they played this game of “we’re not confirming anything”, until the health benefits ran out. So they couldn’t ask for the locker and door keys back, without me getting the idea my job was finished. They were so afraid I go get expensive dental work, or a new pair of glasses. Can you believe that kind of thinking?
#10, Glenn,
That isn’t happening as often now. More and more places are going with temporary workers to get around the health care and benefit package.
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When I was in industry I made weekly backups of my files that I kept at home. This was a security matter in case of catastrophe and in case something happened to me.
About a year after I left (health), my old boss phoned me about a lawsuit. What did I remember since it was before his time.
When I checked my files I found that I had raised a red flag about this very action. The smart executives had deleted my memo hoping that would remove the evidence.
I emailed the memo to my boss and that was the last I heard about it. I’m hoping that that memo saved someone a lot of costly litigation and a settlement was found.