Protecting Confidential Information

The type of information that you're trying to keep secret, and how many employees have access to it, will play a role in deciding how you choose to handle confidentiality issues.

There are some basic steps you can take to protect your business's information. Some of these steps may seem too drastic for your purposes. Use only those that you feel are necessary and that will achieve a degree of security with which you are comfortable. These are also good steps to take in developing your confidentiality policy:

• Explain to employees the need to protect certain types of information.
• Define as much as possible the type of information that you are trying to protect.
• Prohibit the dissemination of confidential information.
• Educate employees on the kind of situations in which they might unwittingly reveal confidential information.
• Explain the penalties for violating the company's policy.
• Make employees sign a noncompete agreement when they are hired.
• Remind employees that work product belongs to the business, not to individual employees.
• Set up procedures for identifying and safeguarding company proprietary information (for example, establish passwords for computers).
• Be prepared to prosecute the theft of secrets.