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December 23, 2008
Defensive Postures
...I guess.
Fifty eight percent of Wall Street office workers surveyed say they would take valuable company data with them if faced with a layoff, if they knew could get away with it....The survey found that many office workers are downloading sensitive company secrets right now under their bosses noses in anticipation they could lose their jobs.
Among the survey’s findings:
• More than half the workers surveyed who admitted to already downloading competitive corporate data said they would use it as a negotiating tool to secure their next post because they know the information will be useful to future employers.
• Top-of-list of desirable information being extracted from employers is customer and contact databases. Plans and proposals, product information, and access and password codes are also popular choices.
• HR records and legal documents were the least favored data employees were interested in taking.
• Sixty-two percent of workers admitted it was easy to sneak company information out of the office.
Memory sticks are the weapon of choice for stealing corporate data, the survey found. Other methods included photocopying, e-mailing, CDs, online encrypted storage Web sites, smartphones and DVDs.
But in a culture where taxpayer billions are going for bonus money to keep the "best and brightest" at these firms ~ the VERY "best and brightest" whose brilliance f*cked over national economy, their firms and these snuffies' jobs, mind you ~ I guess it's every Third World Dog for himself.
Posted by tree hugging sister at December 23, 2008 09:06 AM
Comments
"More than half the workers surveyed who admitted to already downloading competitive corporate data said they would use it as a negotiating tool..."
A negotiating tool with the prosecutors? Or are these yet more people who think "when I do it, that means it's not illegal"?
Posted by: Dave J at December 23, 2008 11:27 AM
It's a negotiating tool with a prospective employer, Dave. It's effective, too. I doubt anyone would be stupid enough to bring a printed customer list or a memory stick to a job interview. They'd claim all of the information they have is in their head and it would be pretty difficult to prove otherwise. Cold Hard Corporate Fact: Leverage is everything, loyalty is weakness.
I'm waiting for someone to send a big corporate file to one of these file-sahring services.
Posted by: Rob at December 23, 2008 03:11 PM
File-sharing he meant to say.
Posted by: Rob at December 23, 2008 03:12 PM
"Leverage is everything, loyalty is weakness. "
From the outside, that looks to be the case for a long time now, starting around when many corporations stopped awarding pensions, and started kicking into 401(k)s.
So, no surprises there. I'm amazed that anyone actually answered the survey questions at all.
Posted by: JeffS at December 23, 2008 03:54 PM
"I'm amazed that anyone actually answered the survey questions at all."
Quite surprised they answered the way they did. Wonder now how reliable/accurate it is.
Posted by: Rob at December 23, 2008 04:25 PM
"They'd claim all of the information they have is in their head and it would be pretty difficult to prove otherwise."
It would irrelevant to prove otherwise. It's still proprietary information and as such, taking it is theft, whether it's on recording media or not.
Posted by: Dave J at December 23, 2008 09:42 PM
I suppose you're focused on the "plans and proposals" portion, Dave. I'm focused more on the "customer and contact database" portion. If you lay someone off, they can go to your fiercest competitor and undermine you with all of your clients. That's exactly why your fiercest competitor hired him and what he wants/expects him to do. You don't think you'd have to prove that he did so with the help of your developed database and not that he just used his extensive knowledge and experience with the clients? And do you think you could do so without the smoking gun or memory stick as the case may be?
Yes, it's theft but it's very hard to prove. That's what I was saying.
Posted by: Rob at December 23, 2008 10:46 PM
The Industrial Espionage Act makes that kind of thing a federal crime. True, most people don't get caught, but those who do instantly go from living a normal life to being in the World of Crap.
Posted by: Jim - PRS at December 24, 2008 02:01 PM
"those who do instantly go from living a normal life to being in the World of Crap."
A lot of people think losing their job has the same impact, Jim. BTW, I'm not defending any of this. Just stating how and why it's done.
Posted by: Rob at December 24, 2008 02:16 PM