Businesses are being urged to tighten up their data security following a survey which reveals up to 70 per cent of employees will take data – including customer records – with them when they leave.
The increasing use of personal devices such as phones for business purposes and the ease with which digital data can be copied have led to growing concern.
A survey of 1,000 London workers carried out by data security company Imperva found that 70 per cent of workers surveyed had “clear plans to take something with them upon leaving”.
The study found that 72 per cent of people admitted to taking corporate data out of a company in the past, with the most common types of data being HR records, customer records and marketing material.
Of the workers surveyed, 17 per cent planned to take customer records and 27 per cent planned to take other forms of intellectual property.
“More than half of the respondents claimed to have personal ownership of the data – 59 per cent in the case that they were about to change jobs, and 53 per cent if they knew they were about to be dismissed,” said Imperva. “Others considered it helpful in their next role (35 per cent when moving a workplace, 17 per cent under the knowledge of being terminated).”
The vast majority (85 per cent) carry corporate data in their home computers or mobile devices. This data mostly consists of customer records (75 per cent) and Intellectual Property (27 per cent).
