Company Data Theft | Data Loss

The unwanted outflow of company data can have numerous causes and a wide variety of perpetrators. Identifying security gaps, closing them subsequently and securing court-admissible evidence against possible offenders by means of documented proof are among the core tasks of our experienced and IHK-certified corporate investigators at Kurtz Detective Agency Erfurt and Thuringia: +49 361 2243 0020.

Prevention And Damage Limitation

To prevent unwanted data leakage, you as an entrepreneur can take various preventive measures at an early stage, for example:

• Raising employee awareness in the handling of data
• Restricting employees’ access rights to company data
• Changing access credentials at short, irregular intervals
• Backing up data on external storage media
• Checking company computers for harmful software (spyware and similar) by professional IT experts
• Inspecting business premises for the installation of audio or video recording devices by experienced counter-surveillance specialists
• Reviewing the burglary protection of company premises and, if necessary, drawing up a security concept with security experts

In the prevention of data theft, as well as in identifying the cause in the event of damage, the IT specialists of Kurtz Investigations Erfurt and Thuringia support you. This includes examining computers, servers and networks as well as conducting technical inspections of business premises. Should the need arise, please contact our expert investigation team, also by e-mail if you wish: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-erfurt.de.

Objectives And Consequences Of Data Espionage And Data Disclosure

As you can imagine, competitor companies are not interested in your internal data out of mere curiosity, but because they intend to profit from it in one way or another. On the one hand, you are directly harmed and may suffer, for example, loss of turnover through the poaching of customers or even face claims for damages due to the alleged disclosure of personal data. On the other hand, the opposing side is enabled to bring your product to market more cheaply and possibly more quickly on the basis of your intellectual property, without incurring development costs. In this way, you lose competitive advantages that you have lawfully earned. Data theft by competitor companies is frequently supported by your own employees. In a study conducted by the digital association Bitkom in spring 2015, around 52 per cent of the affected companies surveyed stated that their current or former employees were involved in the offence.

Depending on which data are stolen, the damage can be enormous. Plagiarism and patent infringements are the consequences most frequently cited in the study. However, the potential loss of reputation may also cause mistrust among customers, suppliers and business partners; the resulting loss of turnover can threaten the very existence of some companies. In order to avoid possible reputational damage, entrepreneurs often refrain from filing an official complaint and instead attempt to quantify and, if necessary, limit the damage through their own investigations – our corporate investigators from Erfurt will assist you in doing so: +49 361 2243 0020.

Sabotage: Jealous Competitors Or Vindictive Employees?

For affected companies, not only the costs caused by data theft but also those resulting from destruction or manipulation (sabotage) are considerable: files deleted by dissatisfied employees, laptops stolen by competitors or computers that fall into unknown hands during a burglary all have financial consequences.

Our academically trained IT specialists and experienced detectives in Erfurt and Thuringia trace the source of the data outflow, close security gaps, recover potentially lost data and, if necessary, identify the perpetrator or perpetrators. Discreet conduct, detailed written documentation of the case and the provision of court-admissible evidence are a matter of course for us. Call us or use our contact form for your enquiry.