Need for Data Loss Prevention When Employees Move Out

Marketing Team Cloud Security Expert - CloudCodes Software
  • October 22nd, 2020

The Growing Need for Data Loss Prevention

The attrition rate in some of the companies is high and this is due to the fact that highly skilled professionals are always on the outlook for attractive career opportunities that will increase their job prospects. Every career counselor advised that employees change jobs every 3-5 years so that their knowledge base gets widened and their career-graph shows an upward trend! What has all these about the attrition rate and the job change got to do with data security? Here comes the glitch! As per a survey, 1 out of the 4 respondents interviewed say that they take the data of companies left with them when they switch jobs and astonishingly 85% say that they find nothing wrong in it. The reason given was that they themselves helped to create the materials. And many of them admitted that the enterprises lacked strict data protection policies, due to which, employees find it appropriate to take away that sensitive data. The primary reason for doing so was that they felt that the material might help them in their new job. But the main result that draws out of this is the negligence on the part of the enterprises to secure their data. The growing need for Data Loss Prevention solutions can help in safeguarding and managing crucial information of an enterprise.

Easy Misappropriation of Critical Data

What is the data that the employees of a company have access to and may take it when they leave the job? The contact information like emails, contact addresses, and numbers and more damaging data such as financial reports, intellectual property of the enterprise to trade deals are all that some of the selected employees may have access to. The data can be copied or shared through portable devices, online sharing apps, and emails. USBs are easy to carry in and out of the office and they are the most sought-after devices to take the data out of the company even when not connected to the internet. Cloud apps are not far behind, and with these services available for free, employees find it easy to upload all the sensitive data without any physical traces. Popular messaging services like Skype and Messenger aid employees in transferring data. Also, emails can be sent from the company address to third parties and better is when it is forwarded to the personal email address.

The Role of Enterprises in Ensuring Data Security

All the enterprises to get their employees to sign the confidentiality clauses in the contracts, but these cannot be effective when it comes to the misappropriation of data. The employees feel that they have partial ownership of the data they have prepared and taken it with them without feeling the impending dangers of doing so. Then there is the solution of terminating employee access to the crucial data as soon as the employee conveys his decision of resigning from the post. But this offers no respite because the employee might have already transferred the data and then put down the papers. Then the notice period also offers a certain delay in implementing the termination process. Any employee is expected to work during the notice period and arrange a handover and this entitles that he has access to confidential data of the enterprise.

Why Data Loss Prevention is Necessary for Business?

When all the above methods fail to produce tangible results, then the best an enterprise can do is to put technology controls in place. Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solutions offer layered control over the data that leave the networks and endpoints. The data can be segregated into being sensitive and this can be inspected, logged, reported, or blocked. Limited access can be initiated by the admin and password reset can be enabled to prevent files from being accessed or copied. The policies can be made stricter to employees leaving their jobs and sensitive data found on their devices can be destroyed. When company policies fail to do the necessary work, DLP implementation helps in effectively handling the confidential data. Employees may come and go, but sensitive data has to remain in the enterprise and this can be handled well by deploying effective data loss prevention solutions.

Conclusion

When an employee decides to move from an enterprise, it must be ensured that he does not carry any sensitive data with him either intentionally or unintentionally. This can be achieved by the need for Data Leak Prevention solutions and its effective implementation that helps in managing crucial information of an enterprise.

Share