The significant wave of layoffs in 2024 has introduced a cybersecurity threat that many business owners are overlooking: the offboarding of employees. Even major brands, which are expected to have advanced cybersecurity measures, often fail to adequately protect themselves from insider threats. This August marks a year since two disgruntled Tesla employees, after being terminated, exposed the personal information—including names, addresses, phone numbers, and Social Security numbers—of over 75,000 individuals, including employees.
Unfortunately, the issue is likely to worsen. According to NerdWallet, as of May 24, 2024, 298 U.S.-based tech companies have laid off 84,600 workers, with the number continuing to rise. This includes significant layoffs at major companies like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, as well as smaller tech startups. In total, around 257,254 jobs were cut in the first quarter of 2024 alone.
Regardless of whether you need to downsize your team this year, having a proper offboarding process is essential for every business, big or small. Offboarding is more than a routine administrative task—it's a critical security measure. Failing to revoke access for former employees can lead to serious business and legal consequences later.
Some of these issues include:
- Theft of Intellectual Property: Employees can take your company's files, client data, and confidential information stored on personal devices. They may also retain access to cloud-based applications like social media sites and file-sharing services (e.g., Dropbox, OneDrive) that your IT department may overlook or forget to update passwords for. A study by Osterman Research found that 69% of businesses experience data loss due to employee turnover, and 87% of departing employees take data with them. Often, this information is sold to competitors, used by the employee when they join a competitor, or used to start their own competing business. Any way you look at it, it harms your business.
- Compliance Violations: Failing to revoke access privileges and remove employees from authorized user lists can render you noncompliant in heavily regulated industries. This simple oversight can result in large fines, hefty penalties, and, in some cases, legal consequences.
- Data Deletion: If an employee feels unfairly laid off and retains access to their accounts, they could delete all their emails and any critical files they can access. If this data isn't backed up, you could lose it all.
And for those thinking, "I'll sue them!"—even if you win, the legal costs, time wasted on the lawsuit, efforts to recover the data, and the aggravation and distraction of dealing with it all will likely exceed any damages you might be awarded.
- Data Breach: This could be the most terrifying threat. Disgruntled employees who feel wronged can make you the subject of the next devastating data breach headline, potentially leading to costly lawsuits. It could be as simple as making one click to download, expose, or modify your clients' or employees' private information, financial records, or even trade secrets.
Do you have an airtight offboarding process to mitigate these risks? Chances are you don't. A 2024 study by Wing revealed that one in five organizations has indications that some former users were not properly offboarded, and these are the organizations astute enough to detect it.
How can you properly offboard an employee?
- Implement the Principle of Least Privilege: Successful offboarding starts with proper onboarding. New employees should only be given access to the files and programs they need to perform their jobs. This should be meticulously documented to simplify offboarding.
- Leverage Automation: Your IT team can use automation to streamline the process of revoking access to multiple software applications simultaneously, saving time and resources while reducing the likelihood of manual errors.
- Implement Continuous Monitoring: Utilize software that tracks user activity on the company network. This can help you identify suspicious behavior by unauthorized users and determine if a former employee retains access to private accounts.
These are just a few ways your IT team can enhance your offboarding process to make it more efficient and secure.
Insider threats can be devastating, and if you think this can't happen to you, think again. You must be proactive in protecting your organization.
To find out if any gaps in your offboarding process expose you to theft or a data breach, our team will do a free, in-depth risk assessment to help you resolve it. Call us at 703-281-1017 or click here to book now.
