There have been twice as many cases of corporate data theft since 2006, claims new analysis by professional services firm KPMG and lawyer Mishcon de Reya.

The findings also showed that 70% of the analysed cases, the perpetrator(s) were employees who moved to work for a competitor company, 75% of all cases analysed, the data stolen was customer or client-related information.

According to the research, perpetrators justified their actions either by claiming that the information was already in the possession of the competitor (60%) or that the information was already in the public domain (30%).  

In 93% of cases, employees had already left the employer before the discovery of the thefts, while restrictive covenants were broken in 69% of cases.

Dan Morrison, partner in Mishcon de Reya’s Fraud & Insolvency Group, says: “The stolen data has often limited shelf life and employees realise that they have to use the information quickly or they will lose their competitive advantage. Therefore when data theft is discovered or suspected, swift action is needed. At Mishcon de Reya the average time taken in a case of this nature from instruction to legal relief whether in the form of restraining injunction, undertakings, damages or apologies was just over 2.5 weeks.”