When Information Walks Out the Door: First Steps

Common situations.

• An engineer resigns, and IT finds a large download to a USB drive the week before.
• A sales manager joins a competitor, and customers start moving with him.
• A company learns that a recent hire is the subject of a former employer's demand letter.

For the former employer.

1. Secure the evidence. Collect and preserve the departing employee's laptop, phone, and accounts before they are reissued or wiped. Use a qualified forensic examiner to make images that can be authenticated in court.
2. Look for signs of taking. Typical indicators include large downloads, transfers to USB drives or personal cloud accounts, forwarding to personal email, printing, and deletion shortly before departure.
3. Do not help yourself to the employee's personal accounts. Logging into a former employee's personal email or cloud storage without authorization can violate federal and Texas law, such as the Stored Communications Act (18 U.S.C. § 2701), the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (18 U.S.C. § 1030), and Texas's breach-of-computer-security statute (Tex. Penal Code § 33.02), and can undermine the case.
4. Hold an exit interview. Remind the employee in writing of continuing obligations, request return of company property and information, and ask for a signed certification.
5. Review the agreements. Confirm what the employee signed: confidentiality, invention assignment, noncompete, nonsolicitation, arbitration, and choice-of-forum terms. Check whether the confidentiality agreement includes the DTSA whistleblower-immunity notice; without it, exemplary damages and fees under the DTSA are not available against that employee (18 U.S.C. § 1833(b)(3)).
6. Send a demand and preservation letter. Identify the obligations, ask that information be returned through an agreed forensic protocol, and demand preservation. Consider a letter to the new employer, but be accurate; overstated accusations can prompt counterclaims.
7. Decide on emergency relief quickly. Delay weakens a claim of imminent, irreparable harm. See Emergency Relief: TROs and Temporary Injunctions.
8. Consider pre-suit discovery. In Texas, a person may petition a court for a deposition before suit to investigate a potential claim (Tex. R. Civ. P. 202).
9. Identify the secrets. Start writing down, specifically, which secrets were taken and why each qualifies. Courts will expect that list early. See What Counts as a Trade Secret in Court.

For the new employer.

1. Take the letter seriously. Preserve relevant information and involve counsel immediately.
2. Isolate the risk. Instruct the new hire in writing not to bring, use, or disclose any former employer's confidential information. Limit the hire's role temporarily if it overlaps with the former employer's business.
3. Quarantine anything that came over. Do not open or review suspect files. Have a neutral forensic examiner collect and hold them.
4. Investigate. Interview the hire through counsel and check company systems for any imported information.
5. Respond with facts. Describe the steps taken. A measured response often prevents a lawsuit or narrows it. See Responding to a Trade Secret Claim or Demand Letter.

Onboarding practices that prevent disputes.

• Written certifications from new hires that they have returned former employers' information and will not use it.
• Clear instructions not to bring devices, files, or credentials from a prior job.
• Review of the new hire's restrictive covenants before assigning work.

Exit practices that support a later claim.

• Prompt disabling of access to systems and accounts.
• Collection and preservation of company devices, rather than immediate reissue.
• A written reminder of obligations and a signed return certification.

Sources.

• 18 U.S.C. §§ 1030, 1833(b), 2701; Tex. Penal Code § 33.02.
• Tex. R. Civ. P. 202.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Law checked through October 20, 2026. See the Disclaimer.