In light of the Federal Trade Commission’s proposed ban of noncompete clauses in employment contracts, Martin Tully discusses the reactive nature of noncompetes and encourages companies to proactively manage and secure sensitive data in the Law.com Corporate Counsel article, “Noncompete Ban Would Force Companies to Become Smarter About Data-Loss Strategies.”

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Redgrave partner Martin Tully, who co-leads the firm’s data privacy & cybersecurity practice group, said that while noncompetes can help recover stolen data, it’s better to keep it secure from the beginning.

“You may have a border collie that you can send out to get the cow back in the barn, but the better thing is to have a lock on the barn so the cow doesn’t leave in the first place,” he said. “This is where data loss prevention comes into play.”

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Tully said companies should identify what their “crown jewels” are and who has access to that information.

“There are some tools out there that can help with monitoring who has access to information and whether you’re seeing unusual modes of activity with respect to that information,” Tully said. “One of the easiest ways that people typically will identify whether an employee is getting ready to leave is all of a sudden they are suddenly starting to unusually access information at a pace or scope that they otherwise wouldn’t.”

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It’s not about employee surveillance, Tully said, but monitoring data to see where it moves.

“It’s not too different than what is done for general data security,” he said. “This how oftentimes data security teams will be tipped off that’s there has been some kind of malicious intrusion, because all of a sudden they’ll see unusual activity in places where it doesn’t ordinarily exist. And that can mean a data breach, or perhaps an insider is up to something they shouldn’t be.”

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Access the full Corporate Counsel article here.