Data theft by departing employees is not a new trend. Although insider threat is less reported than data breaches carried out by external threat actors, a quick look at news headlines shows that it is very much real—and a growing problem. According to ObserveIT, since 2018, the number of cybersecurity incidents caused by insiders has grown by almost 50%.
However, companies today have to deal with more than just the possibility of unhappy former employees’ leaking confidential company data. With existing and pending privacy legislation that gives employees rights to access their own data after departure, organizations must now take a host of new risks into account when collecting and processing what may constitute employee “personal data.”
