Report: Data theft concerns rise

IT leaders are worried that the economic downturn may prompt some laid-off and disgruntled employees to resort to data theft.

A McAfee-sponsored worldwide survey of 1,000 IT decision makers found that 42 percent felt that the laid-off employees represented the biggest IT security, more than those who were worried about outside intruders.

Some of the concern centers on employees taking intellectual property to boost their chances of getting hired by a competitor, to use with a start-up company of their own, or even to sell.

"The economic downturn across the board is going to provide additional motivation for people who would want to do harm," Seth Bromberger, an information security manager with PG&E in San Francisco, told CIO.com.  "It's on a lot of people's radar right now." And the thefts can be quite easy.

McAfee CEO Dave DeWalt said USB drives are a key conduit for data leaks. "For $100 you can buy a 100GB drive," he said. "100GB can be the entire customer base for an entire large company."
 
For more on the threat of data thefts:
 - see this CIO.com article