Robert Milligan and Scott Schaefers Published in Law360
"Combatting Employee Data Theft With CFAA"

Seyfarth Shaw Los Angeles partner Robert Milligan and Chicago office associate Scott Schaefers wrote an article published in Law360 on June 13. The article addressed the issue of whether the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) imposes liability on employees who take and use confidential files from their employers' computer networks in order to compete with their employers.  

Robert and Scott discussed recent court cases including U.S. v. Nosal, in which the court held that a former employee was "exceeding authorized access" under the CFAA because the company had computer usage policies in place which prohibited unauthorized activities on their network. Though some federal courts view the CFAA as only pertaining to outside hacking, the recent trend in decisions on these matters have suggested the CFAA can also apply to "dishonest-employee behavior."

Robert and Scott recommended that employers capitalize on the outcomes of these recent court rulings, which "are gravitating toward a broader, pro-employer read of the CFAA." They suggested several measures employers can take in order to prevent employees from obtaining and sharing valuable company information: restrict computer usage to authorized work activities, ban the distribution of company information to nonwork email addresses, implement signed restricted-access agreements and policies, prohibit or limit the use of electronic storage devices, monitor computer usage and access activity, ensure continuous training on acceptable computer usage and upon termination, require all company information, including files, documents, data and devices, to be returned to the employer.