A recent survey by an IT vendor of 400 professionals has discovered that 74 percent of those involved in the survey said they could circumvent IT access controls if they wished in order to move freely around on the network.

When faced with the question: “What would you take with you,” the survey found a six-fold increase in departing staff who said they would take financial reports or merger and acquisition (M&A) plans, and a four-fold increase in those who would take CEO passwords and research and development (R&D) plans.

By comparison, in 2008 only seven percent said they would take M&A plans when leaving the company, which is a considerable difference when gauged against the 47 percent revealed by the current report.