No business is immune to insiders leaking corporate data.

• Author: Wunsch, Jeremy
• Position: Column

Right now, someone within your company is accessing confidential corporate information dishonestly, or at least they're planning to.

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Companies across the country are getting burned from corporate data being leaked from insiders. Wal-Mart, T.J. Maxx and even the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs are just a few of the victims of information security breaches that are costing billions of dollars in legal and recovery fees.

Even in Colorado we see news articles every week about large, well-known companies suffering from the loss of sensitive corporate information at the hands of employees. But what is critical is that everyone realizes and accepts that the rest of us are not immune. These kinds of losses are not relegated to the Fortune 500 set. These incidents happen in companies of every size, and they can be far more damaging to small- and medium-sized business operations.

Yet the mystery remains. Why are so many still adopting the attitude that this kind of data leakage won't happen to them?

Business owners can significantly decrease the potential for loss of corporate data through prevention and protection with what's often referred to as internal threat management. Effective procedures not only help you to prevent these information leaks from happening to your company, but they also protect your most confidential and valuable information from being exposed to unauthorized parties from insiders. By taking just a few simple steps, you can save untold hours, dollars and peace of mind.

In order to truly mitigate internal threats, you have to take a step back and determine exactly where your critical corporate data is located. This includes Social Security numbers, credit-card numbers, driver's license numbers, trade secrets, merger/acquisition information, customer information, financial information and the like. Also, realize that this is not just a job for the IT department. Other company stakeholders such as human resources, legal, compliance and finance departments should be included in the discussion of what corporate data is deemed valuable.

It's also important to know where your company is most vulnerable to internal threats. Many companies believe...