How to Prevent Leak of Confidential Data

In any organization, there’s sensitive or confidential information that is only privy to a few privileged members of the staff. But the risk of the leak of such information to outsiders, or even competitors is very real. Employers can reduce the risk of such data breaches by establishing policies, enforcing these, and having data management and damage containment systems in place.

Your company must have a written confidentiality agreement that all employees who are privy to the sensitive information, must sign. Your company must also have a policy that clearly outlines the personnel who are privy to the sensitive information, and their roles in the organization. The sensible thing to do would be to have a spreadsheet, and identify individuals in the company who are responsible for the data, and who can be identified in the case of a leak of sensitive information.

Don’t let confidential information be easily accessible to anybody in the company via computer networks. Identify where the information resides, and who has access to the data. In the event of a violation, you can easily identify where the breach occurred.

Consult an IT partner to conduct an evaluation of your risk assessment. For example, determine if the encryption system that you are using is safe enough.

Your annual training must also focus on the importance of maintaining privacy in confidential information. All personnel who have access to sensitive data must be part of the training. Employees must be aware that any breach of these privacy rules and policies, can lead to legal action instituted against them. Such information must be contained in the confidentiality agreement that employees sign at the time of joining the organization. Your confidentiality agreement must require that the party maintain the sensitive information, and restrict access to the information to other employees unless expressly authorized to do so.

Speak to a Los Angeles employment lawyer about how you can draft employment confidentiality agreements and non-compete agreements for your employees. In fact, Los Angeles employment lawyers highly recommend that you take professional legal guidance, while outlining privacy rules and policies for your workplace.

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