Some companies require departing employees to identify all the locations where they may have confidential company data, including old company computers and phones, personal computers where company data has been saved, and personal email accounts or messaging applications. They also ask departing employees to identify all of their employment-related accounts, such as a sharepoint, FTP sites, and extranets, to make sure the accounts are properly closed. Other measures that reduce the risk of former employees leaking confidential company information include:

Prohibiting and disabling the use of portable electronic data storage devices, such as thumb drives, on work-issued electronic devices.
Employing software that can isolate and remotely wipe work-related apps and data from employees' personal devices.
Monitoring the web, including sites like GitHub and LinkedIn, for sensitive company information.

The coming challenges

As more employees work from outside the office using their personal devices, finding the right balance between cybersecurity and employee privacy will be even harder to maintain, especially as the increasing number of high-profile data leaks make employees more concerned about their privacy, and companies more focused on protecting data from various threats, including insiders. In addition, new privacy laws are coming into effect (such as the California Consumer Privacy Act) that require companies to protect confidential data, but also place constraints on what data employers can collect about their employees, which may limit companies' ability to engage in certain kinds of monitoring.

Instant Insights /

How to strike balance between cybersecurity and employee privacy

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