Data Theft by Self-entitled or Disgruntled Employees

Why did I start this blog how will it help you?

A few of years ago I was the victim of systematic data theft by self-entitled employees not once but on five separate occasions and all within a relatively short period of time. On various occasions even my identity was stolen by these insiders.

The loss and damages to the business we founded in 1998, my family and I were so significant that we lost the business, our home, every other asset we owned and ended up with over $2 million in personal and business debt.

Rather than be beaten by the experience I started this blog, so that I could help others, particularly those in small-to-medium sized businesses, become more aware about data theft and ways in which they can reduce the chance of it happening to them.

If you think it won’t happen to you, you’re wrong, and it probably already has. If you've had an employee or business partner leave your business with your sales database, patient or customer list, rent or leasing list … any list or other IP you've experienced data theft. Sometimes it does not have a major impact on your business, but other times it could destroy your business and plunge you into debilitating debt virtually overnight.

The risk of data theft has grown in the last 10 years as a result of the trend of BYOD (bring your own device), Cloud-based computing and big data. Even the ubiquitous USB makes is dead easy for someone to walk out of your office with your business.

So, I’m sharing my knowledge, my story and the stories of others so that insider data thieves don’t get such a clear run and you can minimise the opportunity they have to ruin your business and possibly your life.