Look Inside Out At Data & Intellectual Property Losses

Look Inside Out At Data & Intellectual Property Losses In The Middle Market

In Technology Resources by Brandt A. HandleyLeave a Comment

As thrilling as spy novels and espionage stories are, they really only scratch the surface of the amount of data and intellectual threats that exist in our world. Certainly, your Middle Market company needs to be protected from outside sources gaining access. However, if you don’t have measures in place to protect yourself from within, your data and intellectual property protection need more work.

Middle Market Employees Can And Do Pose A Threat

To begin with, we don’t want to suggest you should be highly suspicious and accusatory of your staff. Yes, there are bad people in every industry, niche, and realm of the world. But, the vast majority of employees aren’t actively engaged in intellectual and data threats. However, even the most well-meaning among us can be at the heart of a breach.

So, your Middle Market company needs to understand and be mindful of the many reasons someone might be a threat. Perhaps an employee doesn’t fully understand the information they have access to and why they need to protect it. Or, they may not be aware of what fully protecting the intellectual property or data means. Make sure you have solid education pieces in place, so each staff member understands what they know and why & how they need to protect it.

Evaluating Threat Levels Is Vital For Your Middle Market Organization

Having a robust education process in place is a fantastic step, but it needs to be hand in hand with a strong evaluation and mitigation process. Your Middle Market leaders must be fully aware of exactly what knowledge each employee possesses, how they access data and the ways in which they could potentially cause intellectual property or data to be leaked or breached.

Assign risk levels to every member of your staff and decide on appropriate steps for limiting their risk. Determine the likelihood of malicious and accidental threats. Utilizing background checks and personality evaluations can help for sure.

Monitoring Essential For Preventing And Containing Threats To Your Middle Market Firm

If your Middle Market organization has processes for monitoring external risk, you should have a good framework in place to begin creating internal monitoring processes. You need to be aware of what employees are accessing. Also, it’s very helpful to understand exactly how much of the information and data they actually need access to. Lastly, think of all possible and various ways an employee could accidentally or maliciously leak or breach your defenses.

Once you’ve ascertained these answers, you likely see a way to build, develop and implement your internal monitoring systems.

No organization wants to suspect employees of leaking or being detrimental to your intellectual property and data. But, smart Middle Market companies will put measures in place to evaluate, prevent and monitor just such events.

So what’s in the Mighty Middle Market for me? — get it right now at www.Go4ROI.com.

 

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