Two-thirds of former employees were able to access corporate data on cloud storage applications after leaving their last job, while one in four admitted that they would take corporate data with them when they left.
Research by Sailpoint of 1,000 office workers at large companies found these results, despite 60 per cent working under a rule that their former employer forbade ex-employees from taking IP after leaving the company.
Kevin Cunningham, president and founder of SailPoint, said: “The survey results are an eye opener of how cloud applications have made it easy for employees to take information with them when they leave a company. With almost 20 per cent of employees purchasing a cloud application for work without involving the IT departments, combined with the ability for employees to use consumer cloud apps for work activities, it’s virtually impossible to manage access to applications and the sharing of mission-critical data.
“In order to establish control over this ‘bring your own app’ phenomenon, it’s critical to provide specific incentives for end users to follow corporate policy such as offering users a seamless login experience in exchange for using a central access control framework.”
The survey found that 28 per cent of survey respondents said that corporate policies pay close attention to who is granted access to mission-critical SaaS apps.