There are certain things that companies develop over time that allow them to hold competitive advantages in a given market. While this certainly includes things like branding, others may in fact be kept secret from the public at large. These are known as trade secrets. Sadly, many bad actors out there try to steal this information for a profit. This can even include direct competitors. If you want to protect your company’s trade secrets, you must take action.
Upgrade Company Security
Trade secrets won’t be secret for long if they are stolen. Unfortunately, protecting things like secret recipes, unique manufacturing methods, and computer code must be done proactively. If you don’t, you will be targeted by criminals, corporate spies, and opportunistic employees. This requires a large investment in security at your facilities where these secrets are kept. Without the proper security, a physical breach could leave your information vulnerable.
Hire a Corporate Lawyer
Another strategy you should deploy is hiring a corporate lawyer that has experience working with companies to protect their trade secrets. Such an attorney could help you draft confidentiality agreements with your employees to ensure that your trade secrets do in fact remain secret. If a leak does occur, that attorney can help you seek the appropriate recourse in court to limit the damage to your company’s bottom line.
Implement Encryption
For a variety of reasons, sometimes trade secrets must be stored on computers. Unfortunately, computers are of course at risk of being targeted by hackers, malware, and viruses that could put your business at risk. One way to stop such vital information from falling into the wrong hands is to implement encryption for such data while it is in storage and while in transit. Encryption transforms data into a form that cannot be read without the use of an encryption key. Without the key, that data will be useless to anyone that obtains it without your permission.
Train Your Employees on Protecting Your Secrets
Beyond the use of confidentiality agreements, employees should also be trained on security methods that will lessen the odds of your trade secrets being leaked to the wrong parties. One of the biggest causes of breaches, both online and off, is employee negligence.
Overall, protecting trade secrets requires being proactive. If you are not cautious, your hard work could easily be stolen. As a result, you could lose what made your company so successful in the first place.