IT Policies and Procedures may help alleviate employee theft of intellectual property.

For most of us, the definition of theft is very black and white. For some employees, the line may turn gray right before they depart from the company.

CERT researchers found that the chance of an employee stealing company intellectual property increases right before they resign or are fired. Seventy percent of insider theft was committed by employees whose termination was within 60 days. The study goes on to show that half of all terminated employees took corporate data with them and 62% of this group saw nothing wrong with what they had done.

These employees simply don’t realize that they are committing theft and handing contraband over to their new employers. Among the companies surveyed, there appeared to be a general lack of consequences for such actions. As always, it is important to treat employees fairly and with respect so they aren’t disgruntled when they leave. But, more so, it is vital to create clear, straightforward data use polices and acceptable use policies then continue to remind employees of the consequences for breaking these policies. This will clarify to an employee their ethical responsibility to keep company data private and will also ensure the legal resources are in place if an issue ever arises.

Implementing a pop-up warning at login is a great way to continuously remind employees that they are using company data and should comply with company policy.

Original article by Ericka Chickowski.
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