The greatest knowledge is knowing what intellectual property you own, and where it is located on the network. The next greatest knowledge to know is what controls, technology and processes stand between that data and both insiders and outsiders. The way that intellectual property theft happens can come along a number of various tangents. However, the disgruntled employee is fast becoming the avenue of choice for loosing intellectual property. There is at least one excellent example, in the Sony DRM root kit that could provide a viable avenue for the disgruntled employee to take advantage of the network, and its computing systems.

While some data may be lost due to an honest mistake, posting something early on a web site, or accidentally loosing a laptop. Angry, disaffected employees are also a risk for loosing data to the outside world. The vectors for inappropriate data loss can be as simple as an employee who is angry at management for what ever perceived issue that is posted on a blog. To data that is deleted across the enterprise framework without adequate backups of that data to restore the company back to operation.

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