IT Security's Critical Role During Layoffs

The Gateway Recession of 2009 has brought the prospect of slowing sales and profits — and job losses. Although layoffs are never desirable, they are often necessary. Much of the responsibility for keeping company data safe during layoffs falls to security and risk professionals. When enterprises must think the unthinkable, Forrester recommends a four-step action plan to safeguard sensitive data and secrets. Enterprises should: 1) Prepare a comprehensive plan by creating a team composed of IT, HR, PR, executives, and legal; 2) practice executing the plan by simulating deprovisioning activities and war-gaming failure scenarios; 3) execute the plan when day zero comes; and 4) evaluate the successes or failures of deprovisioning, information protection, and monitoring activities. Enterprises should supplement these tactical activities by implementing technologies like data leak prevention (DLP) and PC backups to create a sustainable, ongoing data protection program.