Tuesday, March 03, 2009, 3/03/2009 09:10:00 AM

Trade Secrets Theft "Common" According to New Survey

On February 26, 2009, the Washington Post ran a study with headline sure to induce dread in many employees: “Data Theft Common by Departing Employees.”

According to the story, the Ponemon Institute, on behalf of Symantec, interviewed one thousand individuals who had left an employer in the last year.

The results were shocking: nearly 60% of those leaving jobs steal company data when they go. Of those who admitted to that behavior, 79% said they did so despite knowing that their former employer did not permit it. One more scary figure jumps out: 67% of those who took data, said they did so “in order to leverage a new job.”

Among other things, the survey respondents took email lists, financial and non-financial business information, customer contact lists, and employee records.
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