Re:Ask HN: How do I fire someone who has sensitive data on t...
by Someone1234 on Thursday January 28, 2016 @11:21AM
(#10989050)
This is a "people problem" not a technology one.
Meaning even if they wipe the laptop right in front of you, that is meaningless, since they could have backups, a copy on their home machine, and so on. So really your goal here isn't about a single laptop, it is about trying to get a former potentially disgruntled employee to do what you want after they are terminated.
I'd argue a payoff is your only viable way. You put a bag of money in front of them, and then have them sign a contract that they will destroy all company data, and won't redistribute it, or they have to pay you XYZ.
Then just hope that the potential for getting sued for XYZ and the bag of money will keep them in line long enough for the data not to be as key to your business.
As others have suggested you could also "promote" them away from daily access to that data and then terminate them further down the line when the data expires. But that would likely be more costly in the medium to long term.
Meaning even if they wipe the laptop right in front of you, that is meaningless, since they could have backups, a copy on their home machine, and so on. So really your goal here isn't about a single laptop, it is about trying to get a former potentially disgruntled employee to do what you want after they are terminated.
I'd argue a payoff is your only viable way. You put a bag of money in front of them, and then have them sign a contract that they will destroy all company data, and won't redistribute it, or they have to pay you XYZ.
Then just hope that the potential for getting sued for XYZ and the bag of money will keep them in line long enough for the data not to be as key to your business.
As others have suggested you could also "promote" them away from daily access to that data and then terminate them further down the line when the data expires. But that would likely be more costly in the medium to long term.