Signs That Employees Are Selling Information To Competitors
Employees are often the first to know about company information, and many employees will sell information to competitors for money. If you find any of these signs in your organization, it may be time to start an investigation.
Employees and Employers often ask us, “Is selling company data illegal?” The simple answer is “Yes” as it is a kind of robbery. Competitors steal from their rivals by illegally gaining insider knowledge from employees. A sign that an employee is selling data to third parties may be a sudden change in their mood or behavior.
They may also be seen carrying large amounts of cash, refusing to answer questions about a recent meeting, or having a sudden need for a new car. The company should perform an investigation before the employee has a chance to leak any more valuable information.
The boss should investigate each and every person individually and trick them by accusing false allegations. So, they can be trapped in this way and tell which information they actually stole.
Ways of Protection & Spotting the “Rat”:
There are many ways to spot the traitor. However, sometimes the data leakage can be the result of hacker attack. One of the ways is to use a VPN to protect your data leakage online. We recommend people use VPN. You may want to know how my IP public can be hidden? With VPN, people can hide their IP addresses and locations so no hacker can track them. VPN can also provide a double security layer and protect you if there is any hacking attack.
Moreover, if there is no hacker attack, you need to check all your computer activities. There are logs or history available on browsers like Google Chrome. So, it is really easy to track all the browsing activities. There are many tools available as well to make work easier for you.
Use a strong password and 2- Factor Authentication for access to each user. Each user should have access only to relevant information. Giving everyone access to everything will leave data vulnerable, and it will be challenging to spot the “rat” if there is data leakage within the company.
Evaluate which employees are overworking and taking overtime hours. If an employee constantly stays late at work, comes to the company early. It is worth reflecting on the reasons for such behavior and following up on the employee’s future tactics. It is essential not to hurry to the conclusion about spying because the employee may turn out to be a conscientious person, and the actions of the supervisor will ruin the hard work.
Email checking regularly is another way to check if there is any data leakage occurs or not. It is not always a suitable option if the person deletes the email after sending details. It may be difficult to find that email. However, if the traitor is not clever and leaves the email in the “sent” section, you can check and find the weak link.
Investigate:
While investigating, it is recommended to keep narrowing down the circle of suspects as much as possible. It will help to identify the “rat” much easier. During the investigation, don’t trust anyone, not even your closest friend, as sometimes they can be job’s comforter.
Check out which data is leaked and ask the people from the relevant department. Try to trick them by putting false allegations about data leakage. Means put more allegations about what is stolen even if it’s not. This trick may work if the guilty person is not clever or brave enough and tell the truth suddenly.
Use an informant:
When the informant’s name is known, it is not a good idea to tell him publicly. There is a risk that he will try to cause more trouble for the owner. The informant may hide, conceal evidence, or destroy evidence of his or her guilt. In some cases, owners deliberately do not expose the informant to misinform competitors. As a result, it is possible to control the behavior of ill-wishers and turn it in their direction. The disadvantage of this method is that psychologically it is not easy to do and it is not always advisable.
Lock your computer:
Under no circumstances should you work on a computer that has been leaked. It is first and foremost the object of a specialist’s investigation now. Turning it on can destroy the information that is on the hard drive. It is not allowed to boot such a computer using its operating system. The admission of unauthorized persons to the computer must be excluded.
You should not forget that employees may not leak information due to their fault, but rather due to inattention, failure to follow safety rules, or misunderstanding of tasks. In this case, you can reprimand the employee or teach him or her to be more careful. Such situations are most often observed among junior staff. Therefore, it is essential to conduct explanatory conversations with employees of all ranks for preventive purposes.
