They call it revenge hacking. When a former employee is angry enough to use their credentials to break-in to the company database and wreak havoc, it can be damaging to your practice.
People often associate criminal behavior with outside threats. But that is only one piece of the puzzle. Yes, hackers are working diligently to try and find ways into systems to collect data they can use for profit and gain. Yet you can’t ignore what your own employees are doing.
Data shows that only 6 out of 10 organizations consider insider threats when building a security plan. That leaves gaping holes for employees to peruse in any way they see fit.
What if you fire an employee on the spur of the moment? What if an employee quits after stewing for months over an altercation at work?
Are either of those employees able to get back into your systems?
To stop revenge hacking in its place, you need a plan.
Create a checklist you can use for every departing employee. Use it no matter why the employee is leaving.
- Collect all computers, laptops, phones, smartphones, keyfobs, access cards, keys, wireless cards - whatever you issued to your employee to have access to your property and company data.
- Forward email address to an appropriate employee. Have them monitor the email for anything out of the ordinary.
- Archive all emails produced by the employee.
- Change the phone system password.
- Turn off VPN access and access to all remote applications.
- Send a remote wipe command to all mobile devices and BYOD.
- Remove access to corporate data from all personal devices.
- Turn off access to any hosted applications. Remove them from all shared cloud-based applications.
- Remove permissions from Outlook or other exchanges.
- Remove all contact information from email distribution lists.
These items are your starting point. Create your own checklist based on your needs. Then use it every time an employee leaves, no matter how good the working relationship seems to be.
You’ll keep your business safer and reduce the risk of having problems down the road.
For IT Strategy, Cloud Conversion, or Help Desk Services reach out to us at Silver Linings Technology 360-450-4759.
