It can often be the best of intentions that employees leave a company exposed to the serious financial and legal risks of a data breach. A recent FTC investigation found that the personal information of employees and customers for more than 100 organizations was leaked over the internet via personal file sharing on home computers. Jordan Lawrence sees this type of exposure in virtually every company they work with, and it isn’t the result of malicious employees. In our experience it is diligent employees who work at home but don’t have access to the appropriate, secured resources, such as company-issued laptops and secure networks, that are using home computers and internet connections who are exposing companies to such data breaches.

Many companies have measures in place that block peer-to-peer file sharing on company resources, but the threat of a data leak caused by employee home computing still looms. There are steps companies can take to reduce home computing risks, and an assessment of what sensitive information employees are working with, and how they are working with it, is key. Once companies have a clear understanding of how their employees are handling sensitive information through the normal course of business they can build a foundation for a credible security program to begin eliminating data security risks.