Employee exits aren’t just a cultural moment – they’re a high‑risk flashpoint for IP theft, and HR is now squarely on the front line of defence
For HR leaders, employee departures are often framed around culture, continuity and employer brand. But according to John Taylor, chief technology officer for Mimecast in APAC, they should also be treated as a critical point of risk for intellectual property (IP) and confidential information.
“Data theft by departing employees represents a significant legal and commercial risk for Australian businesses,” Taylor says. It is not an edge case – it is common enough that organisations across sectors are investing heavily in prevention and detection. HR, he argues, is squarely on the front line.
Just last year, an exiting Intel employee was accused of stealing around 18,000 files from the company, including those labelled “top secret”.
This wasn’t an isolated incident either, as a study from the Ponemon Institute found that 59% of employees departing a company take confidential or sensitive information with them.
Taylor noted that while the prevalence of IP theft varies by industry, seniority and function, it happens frequently enough to warrant systematic controls.
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