Traitors in our midst

As staff turnover rises and the pressure to perform increases, firms face the very real risk of good (or not so good) employees going bad. David Benyon looks at what firms can do to deter wrongdoing and protect their less tangible assets

Bolting your doors and scanning the skyline is not enough in operational risk management. Some of the worst risks are posed by what World War II-era public information posters would have termed 'The Enemy Within'. A firm's own employees can be a persistent and potentially cancerous internal source of risk. Data security breaches, unauthorised trades or internal frauds can cause the loss of sensitive information or just plain cash. And at the top of the spectrum, there are threats to the