How to Prevent Employees from Stealing Data
Data breaches are the worst nightmare of a company, as they can result in serious consequences. Consider that the average total cost of data breaches amounts to 8.19$ million for U.S companies. Many of these data breaches occur due to employee theft.
This may sound scary, but with effective employee monitoring software, you can avoid such incidents from occurring. An employee monitoring software tracks employee behavior while they are on the clock, ensuring that you stay up-to-date on any suspicious activities.
Let’s discuss in more detail how you can use employee monitoring software to prevent data breaches and employee theft.
Why Data Protection Is So Important
You’ve likely heard of data protection and why it’s so important for a business. But what’s the big deal anyway? After all, every business has data.
But this data contains sensitive information including employee records, client information, product details, financial transactions, and more.
This data is also important for company owners to make decisions and for staff to execute processes in order to provide excellent products and services. So, in essence, data can prove to be one of the most valuable assets of a business.
Furthermore, most businesses have employees who often have access to a plethora of data points that they can tamper with, save, or distribute as needed. Although most employees will do their jobs honestly and not engage in such activities, there are some who may do so out of malicious intent.
That is why every business should make data protection their number one concern. Part of this process is making sure the data is only accessible to authorized staff members who require it, that it is accurate and up-to-date, and that only authorized individuals have access to it.
These are just some of the things businesses can do to prevent employee theft of sensitive business data. In the next sections, we will discuss how they can successfully implement these steps.
How to Prevent Employees from Stealing Data
Now that we’ve talked about data protection and the steps businesses can take to maintain it, it’s also important to implement mechanisms in the workplace that can ensure those steps. One such mechanism is the use an effective employee monitoring software.
Employee monitoring software serves to track employee productivity, and common user activities, and identify insider threats.
Employee monitoring software can also covertly log an employee’s every move on any given desktop and notify management through the main admin dashboard when specific actions are taken.
Examples of monitored actions include when users access protected areas of a network or computer, unusual log-ins, or behavior that isn’t typical for their job role, and so on. It can also serve as a remote workforce monitoring tool.
Employee Monitoring Software Features
After a brief introduction to employee monitoring software, let’s have a look at the various features of employee monitoring software that can help businesses protect their data more effectively.
Live Monitoring
Employee monitoring software allows supervisors to view their employee’s activities in real time. With Wolfeye, for example, supervisors have access to a dashboard that keeps getting updated with new information and activity updates. These include which apps and websites they may currently be using.
Furthermore, the software also allows supervisors and managers to gain access to an employee’s desktop screen through its Remote Desktop feature. This essentially gives managers the ability to respond and intervene instantly when they come across suspicious activities.
Also, remember that the vast majority of security breaches are unintentional and caused by human error. This brings us to our next point: live monitoring allows managers to catch the possible leak and also to educate their employees about potentially risky behavior.
App/Website Tracking
Employee monitoring software has the distinct capability to identify which applications and websites are being utilized by which employees. This may be helpful in discovering potential risks to sensitive data.
The software makes it easy for managers to spot any variation from their employees’ regular work patterns, especially when they are aware of each employee’s particular job description and which apps they usually use.
An example of this would be software that is completely unrelated to an employee’s job role, or an unreliable website, such as a file-sharing platform that your organization does not utilize.
Screenshots
Certain employee monitoring software, such as Wolfeye, have features that can take screenshots of an employee’s desktop at random or predetermined intervals without their knowledge. This way, managers can keep an eye out for potentially dangerous actions without disrupting the employee’s day-to-day activities.
This is also especially useful when managers suspect certain employees of suspicious activities as they can set up regular screenshots for that specific employee’s (or group of employees’) computer.
File/Document Tracking
Lastly, Wolfeye can be really useful in case managers need a detailed picture of which users accessed which files, rather than simply viewing application or web usage. This software automatically tracks who accessed whatever file or document and how long they remained there.
Ethical Concerns When Using Employee Monitoring Software
The benefits of employee monitoring software are enough to make businesses seriously consider implementing them, but at the same time, it’s important to be aware of the various risks associated with using such software.
The key to avoiding such risks is to maintain transparency throughout the implementation of the software. While discreet monitoring may be tempting, it may be important to weigh the advantages against the potential risks.
Here are some other ways business owners can balance data protection and employee privacy when using monitoring software:
Open Disclosure: Make sure that every employee understands the purpose and extent of monitoring.
Legal Compliance: Follow all regulations pertaining to the surveillance of employees and the protection of sensitive information.
Reasonable Usage: The purpose of the employee monitoring software should not be to penalize employees, but instead to help them comply with company requirements.
Conclusion
Given the potential consequences of data breaches, it is essential for businesses to improve data protection in every way. An effective employee monitoring software like Wolfeye can help them do just that.