Theft of confidential data such as customer databases and financial algorithms is an increasingly serious risk for businesses, legal statistics show.
In 2016, the number of High Court cases involving the theft of confidential data rose by one quarter on the previous year-from 40 in 2015 to 50 in 2016.
According to commercial law firm EMW, which gathered the figures, one key driver could be a general rise in staff turnover, with departing employees keen to gain a competitive advantage for their new employer or start-up business. The use of mobile devices, smartphones and cloud storage is another factor.
Businesses in the technology and finance sectors are at risk theft of algorithms, while client databases are a vulnerable point for recruitment firms, estate agents and other businesses reliant on client relationships.
Felix Dodd, senior solicitor at EMW, said: ‘Data is becoming more and more business-critical—and easier and easier for staff to siphon off when they move on.
‘Theft of confidential data has become such a widespread concern for firms in the City that many of them ban their employees from sending work emails to their personal accounts, and some now even disable some functions on their employees’ smartphones. Bigger businesses should have the systems in place to be able to monitor activity like this effectively, but a lot of smaller businesses might not have the budget or skills to track what their employees are doing with sensitive data.’
