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Breach of confidentiality

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    Breach of confidentiality

    Hi guys

    One of my friends works for a firm down south and sent some source code to himself via email, he got a letter for breach of confidentiality and is really worried, says he hasn't used it and deleted it. I was just wondering if these threats are real or just designed to scare the individual. Is it likely the person will actually be affected by it?


    Anybody to share their experiences?

    #2
    Originally posted by NorthWestPerm2Contr View Post
    Hi guys

    One of my friends works for a firm down south and sent some source code to himself via email, he got a letter for breach of confidentiality and is really worried, says he hasn't used it and deleted it. I was just wondering if these threats are real or just designed to scare the individual. Is it likely the person will actually be affected by it?


    Anybody to share their experiences?
    I've had to enforce similar NDA type breaches as a manager, contractors are prone to immediate termination unless they're really useful and the breach is minor, permies get a disciplinary or severe warning if they've kept their noses clean, final or booted if not. Have seen serious talk of legal action if it's IPR code.
    Depending on the client it can be very serious.

    Comment


      #3
      No experience of threats like this
      but as I wfh, I must have the source code to do my job

      in fact I wrote most of the bastid myself anyway.


      why did he send it to himself ? useful code snippets perhaps ?
      (\__/)
      (>'.'<)
      ("")("") Born to Drink. Forced to Work

      Comment


        #4
        I guess it depends largely on what the 'some source code' is. If it's something he wrote on behalf of the client and can argue he's working on it offline, then it's a smack on the wrist for not following procedure. If the client is some software house and he's just nicked their latest pre-release product that could be used by a competitor, then I hope he looks good in orange... but not too good for his sake.

        Details?

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by Pondlife View Post
          I guess it depends largely on what the 'some source code' is. If it's something he wrote on behalf of the client and can argue he's working on it offline, then it's a smack on the wrist for not following procedure. If the client is some software house and he's just nicked their latest pre-release product that could be used by a competitor, then I hope he looks good in orange... but not too good for his sake.

          Details?
          Seems the code is not useful outside of the place and person just wanted to save some code for memory and sniper use not to actually replicate it. Stupid mistake but no intent behind it.......

          Comment


            #6
            What type of client is it? If it is a bank or any other organisation that is particularly protective over this type of thing then I would worry. How did they find he sent it? He accidental dropped himself in it or did the find out by other means? You would surmise if they have taken the time to sniff this out they will deal with it properly. If he accidentally dropped a bollock he might be able to talk his way out of it.

            Devil will be in the details I reckon so hard to say.
            Last edited by northernladuk; 8 January 2014, 23:09.
            'CUK forum personality of 2011 - Winner - Yes really!!!!

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by northernladuk View Post
              What type of client is it? If it is a bank or any other organisation that is particularly protective over this type of thing then I would worry. How did they find he sent it? He accidental dropped himself in it or did the find out by other means? You would surmise if they have taken the time to sniff this out they will deal with it properly. If he accidentally dropped a bollock he might be able to talk his way out of it.

              Devil will be in the details I reckon so hard to say.
              If its a bank they tag all outgoing emails with attachments.
              World's Best Martini

              Comment


                #8
                No experience in this but just using logic.

                For a breach of contract the company have the power to terminate his contract (does his contract contain anything, or did he sign an NDA that included not sending client property over public internet?)

                Under the law, wouldn't the company have to prove there was some actual damage to make any kind of claim against him?

                Were National secrets involved?? Also, just because you work on a contract requiring SC, doesn't mean the content of everything you do is a secret.

                Otherwise scaremongering IMO

                Comment


                  #9
                  While working for a bank with a fairly sophisticated printing system where you just hit print then went to any printer and scanned your badge to pull all your prints to that printer, we often had requests to list details of all prints for a userid in the previous few weeks. This gave document title, number of pages and printer location. They disabled all usb ports and CD/DVD drives. Couldn't email anything bigger than a few MB either.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by CheeseSlice View Post
                    No experience in this but just using logic.

                    For a breach of contract the company have the power to terminate his contract (does his contract contain anything, or did he sign an NDA that included not sending client property over public internet?)

                    Under the law, wouldn't the company have to prove there was some actual damage to make any kind of claim against him?

                    Were National secrets involved?? Also, just because you work on a contract requiring SC, doesn't mean the content of everything you do is a secret.

                    Otherwise scaremongering IMO
                    Agreed.

                    The only secretive information is generally:
                    1. Copying all of a product,
                    2. Copying the informative parts of information that the client has a legally binding agreement with a supplier not to take off-site,
                    3. Copying personal information of someone living.

                    There is absolutely nothing stopping anyone from using a pen and piece of paper to copy code snippets, parts of documents etc. and taking that bit of paper home.
                    "You’re just a bad memory who doesn’t know when to go away" JR

                    Comment

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