Prevent A Security Breach When An Employee Quits

How You Can Prevent A Security Breach When An Employee Quits Fort Lauderdale Company

Businesses need people to operate, but human assets can be a security risk. Once an employee leaves, you should know that your company information is at stake. Exiting employees can steal customer data, change prices, and move money from the company’s account. Disabling outgoing workers’ access to company files and systems is an excellent step to securing your data.

Many companies in Fort Lauderdale are concerned about their data safety when an employee leaves. Ex-employees often admit to leaving with company information through storage devices or email.

Here’s how to never worry about your information when an employee quits.

Incorporate Data Handling and Ownership Policies

Data protection policy outlines your company’s approach to data protection. It sets the internal data protection rules and informs how to comply. Your data protection policy should explain how your company aligns with the following:

• IT management
• Information security
• Data ownership
• Confidentiality
• Records management

Most companies fail to introduce policies that stop exiting employees from taking company data, and such mistakes embolden resigning employees to leave with company information. This policy should:

• State that data created in the company belongs to the company
• Be easy for staff to understand
• Be available to all employees
• Have employees’ consent if they must work under surveillance.

Install Tracking System

If your employees consent to surveillance, you should track all their digital activities. A sound surveillance system should:

• Record employee activities
• Help with reporting any suspicious activity

Disable Access To Company Data

Anyone who accesses your company data is a potential vulnerability. Once a worker quits you should take steps to secure sensitive data. That involves:

• Terminating exiting employee’s access to company systems, applications, networks, and physical files
• Changing passwords to stop the worker from accessing the company’s social media accounts, emails, and apps
• Having a security personnel escort the departing employee to the exit door to ensure all company documents and equipment were intact
• Locking file cabinets

Reiterate Company Confidentiality Policies

Take note of valuable information in your organization when developing a confidentiality document. Before your employee leaves, talk to them about special clauses in the non-disclosure agreement. Make them understand the consequences of exposing vital company data to competitors.

Deploy Technology Controls

Use digital controls to restrict access to company-sensitive data. For instance, sales agents should only access products at the final production stage. Get tools to protect documents with passwords and encrypt files so that only the designated individual can access them. You can install specialized software on your employee computer to enable you to wipe files in one click.

Technology can also help you spot employees’ attempts to share data through emails, malware, drives, printers, etc.

Be Concerned About Your Employees Welfare

Creating a good working relationship with your employees can help close the communication gap that could lead to a data breach. When communication is excellent, information flows smoothly across team members and management. Prompt information about suspicious activities will help you to take steps to curb a possible data breach.

An unhappy employee is a risk to your company. Knowing your workers can help determine who may pose a security threat. Be careful of any worker who offers to sell sensitive data of their previous employer. That’s because you may drink from the same cup.

Compared to disgruntled ones, happy workers are more loyal and may not work against your company. So, make sure you maintain a comfortable work environment for all employees.

Settle Existing Feuds

Stealing company data is shared among ex-employees that feel negative about their previous employers. So, it’s essential to be nice to a resigning employee. Minimize how you discuss an employee’s termination of appointment with their direct supervisor. Be cordial and supportive during the disengagement process. Create the impression that the resigning staff will have the chance to work with the company in future.

Encourage Other Workers to Report Suspicious Activity

Inform your employers about the importance of reporting suspicious acts. Many data breach cases come from mistakes of workers who failed to report questionable activities. Teach your workers about phishing and the steps to exposing internal threat suspects. Create a system that allows workers to make anonymous reports, especially when concerned with sensitive company data.

Hold Training Sessions on Data Security

Do you know that 88% of data breaches are a result of employees’ negligence? So, how can you help:

• Hold regular meetings with staff on data loss prevention best practices.
• Make each session interactive to foster transparency and goodwill between management and employees.
• Ensure your workers feel comfortable airing their views about the company’s security policies.

Be Proactive

Preparing your company against a cyber-attack can help mitigate the effects. Set up an emergency management plan to guide your actions when there’s a successful data breach. Your response towards an exiting staff member should be part of your breach intervention plan. So, beam on employees that quit under painful circumstances because they might be the ones to steal company data.

Initiate A Document Termination Policy

Make it your policy to destroy or archive documents and files you no longer need. Depending on your company, it’s best to outsource the document destruction task to a third-party service provider. Even so, you may not store specific customer data like credit card details.

Keep An Eye On the Quitting Employee’s Phones And Tablets

A worker who consented to your data protection terms may not resist attempts to search their electronic gadgets. Hence, check the exiting worker’s mobile devices to ensure they don’t have vital company information. If you find company data in their hard drive, you may do well to destroy it.

Get the Help You Need Most When an Employee Quits Fort Lauderdale Company

Often, it becomes challenging to hold meaningful conversations with a departing employee. But it’s worse if you do nothing when a disgruntled staff quits your company. To avoid losing valuable company data to competitors or hackers, introduce strict data security policies to your employees.

Train your employees about the security breach and emphasize the need to protect company data. Consider workplace surveillance and automatic access disabling systems.

Are you ready to stop a resigning employee from leaving with your company information? LAN InfoTech in Fort Lauderdale can wipe out company data from employees’ systems and prevent unauthorized access to company networks with a push of a button. Please speak with us about your business security needs in Fort Lauderdale and how to protect your company data from exiting employees.

Michael Goldstein

LAN Infotech is a Microsoft Cloud Services Provider, IT Managed Support company and a leader in helping law firms, nonprofits and medical organizations deploy cloud solutions, manage computer networks, keep data protected and top technology management company. Businesses like yours need technology support to run highly-effective organizations.