How has cyber technology created opportunities for workplace deviance?

Today we live in a society where technology is taking over and is a big aspect of our lives, and with that comes a lot of trust for your employees in the workplace. Unfortunately, all of your employees are not always going to have good intentions for the business, and that is where workplace deviance comes into play. Deviance is “the fact or state of departing from usual or accepted standards”, which can mean a lot of things in the cyber technology world. Mostly everything nowadays is digitally stored online which includes financials for a business, business accounts, medical records, personal information, passwords, and other records that need to be kept locked away.

            The first situation that comes to mind when I think about workplace deviance would be if an employee leaves a job on bad terms or gets fired/ released. They have access to all of those records so when they get mad at a business, they could simply download that information and use it against them in the future if they wanted. For example, the employee can download important files that should be kept within a business and blackmail or threaten that business to send the files somewhere else in exchange for their job back or for money in return. This would be considered deviant behavior by performing outside of the accepted standards of the company.

            Technology has allowed many people to get away with things simply because they are behind a screen and there are many loopholes to go through to find the criminal/problem with no face or name. That is why individuals feel comfortable performing these types of deviance in a workplace because they believe they would not be tracked down. Furthermore, employees could simply take down firewalls so that hackers can access their information easier, or they could simply send hackers or other businesses’ bank account information. I believe protocols need to be put in place so that workplace deviance gets minimized.