Firing IT workers can cost you

CIO's need to be on the alert when dismissing employees, never a pleasant task. But the unpleasantness can be extended well beyond the firing if an employee seeks to compromise company computer security and walk off with sensitive information. A survey by Cyber-Ark Software, a provider of identity management products, found that theft of information by disgruntled former insiders is quite common.

"Survey results revealed that 88 percent of exiting employees will use their IT-know-how to take your company data with them, including privileged password lists that give them access to hundreds, even thousands of sensitive data files," said Adam Bosnian, vice president of products, strategy and sales at Cyber-Ark. The target information includes the CEO's passwords, the customer database, R&D plans, financial reports, and privileged passwords.

For more on the difficulties of dismissing workers:
- check out this NetworkWorld.com article