Hoodwinked by own staff, IT firm now extra cautious

Mike Dhall, CEO, Zen Focus IT firm it came as a rude shock for the city based IT firm Zen focus when in June last year, it discovered two of its former employees had allegedly stolen crucial data and inflicted a business loss worth Rs. 1.5 crore. Leena Dhankhar reports.

Mike Dhall, CEO, Zen Focus IT firm, it came as a rude shock for the city based IT firm Zen focus when in June last year, it discovered two of its former employees had allegedly stolen crucial data and inflicted a business loss worth Rs. 1.5 crore. “They stole confidential data and the source code and sold it to competitor companies due to which we lost business contract”, alleges Mike Dhall, CEO of the firm.

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While the two accused are behind bars in judicial custody and a police investigation is on, Dhall says being the victim of such a white-collared crime was a not just a business jolt but a wake-up call for his firm.

“Ever since that incident, we have been taking extra precaution in safeguarding our data,” Dhall says.

With Gurgaon becoming the hub of IT-BPO firms, cyber crime in the form of data theft has increased manifold even as the firms are grappling to cope with it.

“Most cyber crimes are committed by disgruntled employees who have access to internal company confidential data and know where they can leverage this data to their benefit,” says Dhall.

He feels that there is a lot of apprehension among the victims of cyber crime when it comes to reporting it to the police. “One is never sure about the outcome of the case. Besides, cops in India are often not technology savvy. The investigations are usually snail-paced,” he says.

He adds, “We know Gurgaon police has a cyber crime cell but there is a need for capacity building and more training.”