Introduction and industry overview and scenario
Padgett-Beale, Inc. is a cooperate industry that deals with the Hotels, Restaurants and Resorts industry. There was an Intellectual Property theft from an insider who worked in the Property Holdings and Development station. He was a key team member of the Future plans committee. The Property Holdings and Development office head had suspected something fishy going on after this member resigned and became part of a competitor in the Recreational Vehicle Park area. After probing into this, he found log files on the particular insider’s company laptop. Very many large files had been stolen and downloaded from the company’s servers and uploaded to this insider’s cloud account.
Security and privacy issues
Intellectual Property is defined as ideas, creative expressions, and inventions. Insider theft is defined as the use of technology to steal a company’s ideas or information mostly when is an employee or a former employee of that company (Cappelli, 2012). There are some security and privacy issues that could affect a company’s capability to benefit from its Intellectual Property. These security issues may include the following: an employee using another employee’s workstation to access restricted information. This is an attempt to hide their digital fingerprint with the intent of stealing intellectual property. Another security issue is when employees have restricted access to the facility during unusual hours. Breaking into a company’s premises during restricted hours is a sign of insider theft. When an organization’s information is improperly disposed or destroyed, it can fall into the wrong hands and prove fatal to the company’s future. Improper disposal of information can either be intentional or unintentional. Insufficient guard watch or insufficient regulation of duties of controlling physical access. Another security issue is that of authorized personnel allowing unauthorized employees to access certain company premises. Infiltration of the company’s Intellectual Property by bringing removable storage devices in and out of the company’s facilities.
What should managers know
Managers should be aware that many insiders can steal information because they have access to more than what their job entails. Managers should also be able to know how to adjust access control to help reduce insider theft. Managers should also recognize when employees are storing information on their laptops which should not be the case as they should store it on the company servers.
Importance of protecting Intellectual Property
Protecting intellectual property from theft is crucial to safeguard the company’s ideas and inventions from infringement. It is important to protect Intellectual Property to protect the company’s business growth. Intellectual Property is one the most important segment of a company’s marketing and adverts. Protecting Intellectual Property also keeps the company’s business away from competitors.
Recommended solutions
Based on the security issues, there are some solutions that are recommended to help solve Intellectual Property theft. Doing background checks or vetting on every employee during recruitment would be a great solution to help know every tiny detail about an individual employee. Tightening security controls and training security guards often would help avoid unauthorized access to restricted employees and outsiders. Since a company’s invention or ideas are strongly tied to the company’s name, trademarking the company’s name would guarantee protection in case something happened. Creating a stronger firewall and stronger passwords would help curb the problem of unauthorized access to other employee’s workstations. Installing CCTV cameras would also help in monitoring the employees’ activities and knowing who accessed where. Using the Non-disclosure agreement, managers can ask employees or associates to sign the non-disclosure agreement before revealing any company secrets to them.
