This doesn't help if an employee plans to quit rather than gets fired, and copies files before announcing their exit. Then you need a strong endpoint security solution to stop them, or a good logging system to find out what they copied before you call the police.

Some companies disable computer USB ports through the BIOS configuration so users can't copy files to USB drives. However, that won't stop anyone who knows how to re-enable those ports the next time they boot up.

Careful design of your data storage system, along with organized user access rights, can keep employees away from data they shouldn't have. There's really no reason a person in sales should ever see the accounting files, for instance, and that's easy to prevent when setting up user access. Too many small companies rely on Windows peer-to-peer networking to share data, and that's a problem because there is little access control possible. Too many larger small companies use network-attached storage (NAS) devices that rely on Windows workgroup networking protocols and never rethink their user access configuration.

The risk of employees stealing is far less (assuming you have at least a mediocre hiring interview process) than the risk of employees helping viruses and spyware get into your network. It's hard to understand why some users still don't believe they need antivirus and antispyware today, but they are out there. If they work in your company, you know who they are because they need help cleaning up their computers all the time.

Even if you do have antivirus and antispyware protection, you can't tempt fate for long and get away with it. That's what the Millennials tend to do as they download new utilities and fun games and new Instant Messaging utilities on their work computer. They tempt fate, you clean up their computers.

When you can't afford all the security your consultant recommends, you can try the long lost art of user education. Explain to your Millennials and everyone else, once again, how viruses get in (e-mail attachments) and spyware gets in (Web sites). Don't click on attachments in e-mail that look the least bit fishy. One friend just told me if he gets an e-mail from someone he knows but wasn't expecting an attachment, he calls and asks them if they really sent that attachment. Paranoid? Perhaps, but his computer is clean.

Security will be a tough battle for years to come. As you grow and can afford more security, remember to upgrade your endpoint protection tools. Then remember that the real endpoint for your network, people, can help protect your network when educated, trusted and monitored.