Remote Controlled: Keeping Trade Secrets Safe While Employees Work Remotely

One of the biggest challenges the cyber-security field faces today—aside from outright hacking—is the fact that employees' data is increasingly portable. Data portability can be a major boon for employers. For instance, it may allow an employer to offer its employees the ability to work remotely (something that can improve employees' work/life balance, or could be a reasonable accommodation for an employee's disability).  However, data portability can also present major risks for an employer, particularly if an employee stands to profit from misuse of that information.

Because the trend of working remotely is not likely to go away any time soon (notwithstanding Marissa Mayer's ban on working remotely at Yahoo), the question employers must ask themselves is: how to protect trade secret and other sensitive information while still allowing their employees to work remotely?