{"id":3855,"date":"2022-07-25T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-25T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idsinc.com\/?p=3855"},"modified":"2026-03-09T14:55:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:55:25","slug":"trade-secret-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/idsinc.com\/en_gb\/trade-secret-loss\/","title":{"rendered":"Mitigating Trade Secret Loss \u2013 The Easy Way"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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With the Great Resignation in full swing, employees are leaving in droves. What does the Great Resignation mean for employers? Employers are now struggling to protect themselves against the consequences of employees\u2019 departures. When employees leave, they often take a lot more than their experience. A key employee or a group of employees may, intentionally or unintentionally, take and transfer valuable trade secrets that a competitor may use to their advantage. Fortunately, two simple steps can help employers prevent trade secret loss before it becomes a problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For nearly 15 years, I\u2019ve conducted countless investigations often involving trade secret loss, theft, and\/or misappropriation. I forensically examined hundreds of devices and, when applicable, conducted dozens of face-to-face interviews. My experiences show that there are clear patterns for how data often leaves a company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My investigations show that the points of exfiltration and the methods the employees use to take company data have not changed much over time. Often, these methods include copying data to USB drives, personal email accounts, and personal cloud storage platforms. This poses a question: why does data loss keep happening in much the same way, time and time again? The employees often respond with two statements: \u201cI didn\u2019t know how it would affect me!\u201d and \u201cNo one (or nothing) stopped me!\u201d Luckily, the following two approaches\u2014one behavioral and one technical\u2013will help employers reduce data loss. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 1: The Behavioral Approach<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know it would affect me!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Employees usually undergo corporate compliance training on how to handle company data. Some of the training is monthly, while some are less frequent. During onboarding, employers may give employee handbooks to read and acknowledgments to sign. Almost every employee, in my experience, has acknowledged reading words or watching videos that can be summarized as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Corporate data is owned by the corporation.<\/li>
  2. Employees are not allowed to take corporate data for their own use.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    However, this training is often mundane or repetitive. Some employees even make jokes that other people (e.g., their kids or a patient pet) take training for them. While this training ticks some compliance checkboxes, the training rarely, if ever, discusses the aftermath of what happens when employees take corporate data. After countless hours of training, education, quizzes, tests, acknowledgments, and attestations, employees still do not know or understand the consequences of their actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Changes to Training<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    Employee training should include discussions about the personal and financial consequences that can occur when employees become entangled in a trade secret investigation, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n