Tuesday, September 04, 2007, 9/04/2007 07:50:00 AM

Trade Secrets and the Headhunters

From SFGate.com, a story about federal criminal charges brought in connection with the theft of trade secrets from executive recruiting firm, Korn/Ferry International.

Two former Korn/Ferry executives used the services of an administrative assistant within the company to run searches on clients and job candidates. The three have been charged in U.S. District Court in San Francisco with "conspiracy to misappropriate, receive, possess and transmit trade secrets, gain unauthorized access to a protected computer, exceeding authorized access to a protected computer, and unauthorized password use."

This type of "insider/outsider" conspiracy -- not unlike the Coca-Cola trade secrets case -- may be becoming more prevalent.

The key to a successful prosecution will be good and clear policies that will support claims under the Computer Fraud & Abuse Act.
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