Ex-Employees Admit to Getting Revenge on Their Former Companies — Here's How It fits into the bigger picture of workers' discontent across the U.S.
By Amanda Breen Edited by Jessica Thomas
Revenge is a dish best served…via cyberspace?
It is according to research from PasswordManager.com, which surveyed 1,000 U.S. workers who had access to company passwords at their previous jobs — and found that 10% used those passwords to disrupt company activities after they left.
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Although the majority of respondents who admitted to using company passwords post-employment said they retained access because the passwords were never changed, 6% revealed they were able to guess the passwords by using personal information about the employer or their knowledge of administrative processes.
And though the largest group of respondents said they relied on the passwords for personal use — say, to check their email or access paid subscriptions — one in 10 claimed they used them to get into employee accounts in an attempt to rattle company operations.
Many employees who use their former company's passwords fly under the radar successfully too: One in three respondents said they were or have been using the passwords for more than two years, and only 15% said they'd ever been caught doing so.
Of course, for those ex-employees who are caught misusing company information, the consequences can be significant.
"There can be huge implications for misuse of proprietary information," Daniel Farber Huang, head of privacy and cybersecurity at PasswordManager.com, says. "From an ex-employee standpoint, it's important to keep in mind that companies always have more resources, more lawyers and are more patient in trying to recover damages than an individual likely is."
"Even if no legal action is ultimately taken, nobody wants to be threatened by a corporation – it's just not worth the hassle and frustration," Huang continues. "And I'm describing a non-malicious violation here. If someone were actually trying to inflict damage or loss on a former company, that's a whole other scenario that can get ugly and litigious fast, and rightfully so."
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Those who do use company passwords with nefarious intent fit into the bigger picture of employee dissatisfaction in the U.S., which remained at an all-time high despite recession fears last summer, CNBC reported.
