SmallBusinessNewz

The Orlando Business Journal is running an interesting article about company secrets being in jeopardy as it looks at results from a survey conducted by IT security firm Cyber-Ark. Now this data and article both pertain to Wall Street, corporate environments, but that doesn't mean that this isn't something that smaller businesses should think about too.

The economy is forcing many businesses large and small to reduce their workforces. If you find yourself in the unfortunate position to have to make some job cuts in your own staff, you need to consider just what information these soon to be ex-employees have access to. It's hard to get too specific about this area, because it can be different for any business, but some findings from the survey indicate:

- More than half the workers surveyed who admitted to already downloading competitive corporate data said they would use it as a negotiating tool to secure their next post because they know the information will be useful to future employers.

- Top-of-list of desirable information being extracted from employers is customer and contact databases. Plans and proposals, product information, and access and password codes are also popular choices.

- HR records and legal documents were the least favored data employees were interested in taking.

- Sixty-two percent of workers admitted it was easy to sneak company information out of the office.

Just because your business is small, does not mean that you don't have sensitive data, and a loyal employee who gets the axe might harvest some bitter feelings, and not hesitate to put some of said data at risk. There are a couple of lessons to be gleaned from this. First, don't let people go that can hurt you until you tie up any loose ends that can reduce the potential harm that can be caused. For example, change passwords.

Secondly, be careful in the first place about who you grant access to sensitive data in the first place. It is important to establish trust with employees, but not at the risk of compromising potentially damaging  data.