As the economic downturn continues to punish the market, more and more companies face the difficult decision to drastically reduce their jobs in order to stay afloat. And since the crisis began in December 2007, more than 4 million jobs have already been lost in the US, according to the National Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Although most decision-makers focus on weathering the economic storm, security experts warn that they should look askance at their employees, who for fear of being fired, could act to the detriment of the physical or logistical security of the company.
Recently, the Ponemon Institute – dedicated to research on information management – and Symantec – a company that develops security software – carried out research jointly. Nearly 60% of respondents—who had recently lost their jobs—admitted that they had taken confidential corporate information with them. Of the 950 people interviewed, 53% said they had copied information from the computer to a CD or DVD containing everything from customer contact lists to employee files; while 42% transferred the information directly to a USB stick.
Translation: LatinRisk Argentina S.R.L.
