Recruiters need to be more aware of the dangers of the next generation of Smartphones, iPods and USB memory sticks that threaten the security of sensitive candidate information.

Research by the Department of Trade and Industry and financial research company PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), unveiled at the Infosecurity Europe conference at London’s Olympia last month, made worrying reading for UK businesses.

In a survey of 1,000 UK businesses across all sectors, only 33% of firms tell staff not to use such devices, just 13% of firms scan confidential information on outgoing email, while 42% of businesses have no control over instant messaging, which is now a quick way to send large amounts of information over the internet.

Speaking at the event, Chris Potter, a partner at PWC, said: “Recruitment firms need to assess the risks. They also need to look at it from a regulatory and a commercial damage perspective. That risk assessment is absolutely critical.”

Belinda Brooke, head of legal policy at the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, stresses that recruitment firms should insist upon putting restrictive covenants into their consultants’ contracts.
“Recruitment firms may not be able to stop the technological threat, but with a restrictive covenant in place, they’ll have the legal machinery to stop it,” she said.

James Goldman, company legal counsel for recruiter MSB, said the company has invested in new computers with software that makes it impossible to download data.
“Our consultants are allowed to see part of the candidate database, but the software in these new computers will not allow data downloads through USB ports,” he said.