--- title: "Elf on the Shelf: Office Chaos Edition" description: Follow along with SumnerOne's mischievous take on what to do when a well meaning employee puts your business data at risk. Whether you realize it or not, any time an employee leaves, your opening yourself up to risk. Read up on our seven helpful tips to help you reduce your risk of data loss. --- [Office Technology Blog, Tips, & News - SumnerOne ](https://www.sumnerone.com/blog) # [Elf on the Shelf: Office Chaos Edition](https://www.sumnerone.com/blog/elf-on-the-shelf-office-chaos-edition) Written by [Jaclyn Sindel](https://www.sumnerone.com/blog/author/jaclyn-sindel) | Dec 27, 2018 5:38:49 PM If you've followed along with the Elf on the Shelf tradition in recent years, you know that the elf is supposed to be reporting to Santa on the behavior of those they are watching over. This year, SumnerOne joined in on the fun and we added Peppermint the Elf to our payroll! Peppermint was our newest employee and we were so excited to welcome her to the SumnerOne family, even if the fun had to be short-lived. After all the fun and games, we knew Peppermint would have to be headed back to the North Pole. We can't wait to see what she will have up her sleeve for next year. ## **Peppermint's Week of Mischief at SumnerOne** New Gallery 2018/12/27 -   -       New Gallery 2018/12/27focallength 85flash 16cameramake Canonheight 3676fnumber 2exposuretime 0.02camerasoftware Adobe Photoshop Lighoriginaldate 12/13/2018 8:10:28 PMwidth 3676cameramodel Canon EOS 5D Mark IIfocallength 85flash 16cameramake Canonheight 3773fnumber 2.8exposuretime 0.008camerasoftware Adobe Photoshop Lighoriginaldate 12/13/2018 9:50:23 PMwidth 3773cameramodel Canon EOS 5D Mark IIoriginaldate 1/1/0001 6:00:00 AMheight 3697width 2773camerasoftware Adobe Photoshop Lighfocallength 85flash 16cameramake Canonheight 3579fnumber 2.8exposuretime 0.00625camerasoftware Adobe Photoshop Lighoriginaldate 12/13/2018 8:14:41 PMwidth 4632cameramodel Canon EOS 5D Mark IIfocallength 85flash 16cameramake Canonheight 3840fnumber 2.8exposuretime 0.008camerasoftware Adobe Photoshop Lighoriginaldate 12/13/2018 8:24:45 PMwidth 5760cameramodel Canon EOS 5D Mark IIoriginaldate 1/1/0001 6:00:00 AMheight 1913width 2678camerasoftware Adobe Photoshop Lighoriginaldate 1/1/0001 6:00:00 AMheight 1914width 2643camerasoftware Adobe Photoshop Lighoriginaldate 1/1/0001 6:00:00 AMheight 2940width 2940camerasoftware Adobe Photoshop Lighfocallength 85flash 16cameramake Canonheight 3840fnumber 2.8exposuretime 0.008camerasoftware Adobe Photoshop Lighoriginaldate 12/13/2018 8:47:37 PMwidth 5760cameramodel Canon EOS 5D Mark IIfocallength 85flash 16cameramake Canonheight 3303fnumber 2.8exposuretime 0.008camerasoftware Adobe Photoshop Lighoriginaldate 12/13/2018 8:47:47 PMwidth 4943cameramodel Canon EOS 5D Mark IIoriginaldate 1/1/0001 6:00:00 AMheight 4032width 3024camerasoftware Adobe Photoshop Lighoriginaldate 1/1/0001 6:00:00 AMheight 3566width 2344camerasoftware Adobe Photoshop Lighoriginaldate 1/1/0001 6:00:00 AMheight 3920width 2878camerasoftware Adobe Photoshop Lighoriginaldate 1/1/0001 6:00:00 AMheight 4032width 3024camerasoftware Adobe Photoshop Lighfocallength 85flash 16cameramake Canonheight 3840fnumber 2.8exposuretime 0.02camerasoftware Adobe Photoshop Lighoriginaldate 12/13/2018 9:11:52 PMwidth 3840cameramodel Canon EOS 5D Mark IIoriginaldate 1/1/0001 6:00:00 AMheight 2871width 2080camerasoftware Adobe Photoshop Lighoriginaldate 1/1/0001 6:00:00 AMheight 4032width 3024camerasoftware Adobe Photoshop Lighfocallength 85flash 16cameramake Canonheight 3623fnumber 2.8exposuretime 0.00625camerasoftware Adobe Photoshop Lighoriginaldate 12/13/2018 8:59:48 PMwidth 5434cameramodel Canon EOS 5D Mark IIfocallength 85flash 16cameramake Canonheight 3651fnumber 2.8exposuretime 0.00625orientation 1camerasoftware Adobe Photoshop CC 2originaldate 12/13/2018 9:02:06 PMwidth 5308cameramodel Canon EOS 5D Mark IIoriginaldate 1/1/0001 6:00:00 AMheight 4032width 3024camerasoftware Adobe Photoshop Lighoriginaldate 1/1/0001 6:00:00 AMheight 4032width 3024camerasoftware Adobe Photoshop Lighoriginaldate 1/1/0001 6:00:00 AMheight 2447width 2568camerasoftware Adobe Photoshop Lighoriginaldate 1/1/0001 6:00:00 AMheight 3024width 4032camerasoftware Adobe Photoshop Lighfocallength 85flash 16cameramake Canonheight 3552fnumber 2.8exposuretime 0.02camerasoftware Adobe Photoshop Lighoriginaldate 12/13/2018 8:08:37 PMwidth 4806cameramodel Canon EOS 5D Mark IIoriginaldate 1/1/0001 6:00:00 AMheight 4032width 3024camerasoftware Adobe Photoshop Lighfocallength 85flash 16cameramake Canonheight 3440fnumber 2.8exposuretime 0.0125camerasoftware Adobe Photoshop Lighoriginaldate 12/13/2018 8:17:51 PMwidth 3440cameramodel Canon EOS 5D Mark IIfocallength 85flash 16cameramake Canonheight 3840fnumber 2.8exposuretime 0.008camerasoftware Adobe Photoshop Lighoriginaldate 12/13/2018 8:54:16 PMwidth 3840cameramodel Canon EOS 5D Mark IIfocallength 85flash 16cameramake Canonheight 2442fnumber 2.8exposuretime 0.008camerasoftware Adobe Photoshop Lighoriginaldate 12/13/2018 9:05:17 PMwidth 3929cameramodel Canon EOS 5D Mark IIfocallength 85flash 16cameramake Canonheight 3440fnumber 2.8exposuretime 0.008camerasoftware Adobe Photoshop Lighoriginaldate 12/13/2018 9:06:25 PMwidth 2985cameramodel Canon EOS 5D Mark IIfocallength 85flash 16cameramake Canonheight 3840fnumber 2.8exposuretime 0.008camerasoftware Adobe Photoshop Lighoriginaldate 12/13/2018 9:18:22 PMwidth 3840cameramodel Canon EOS 5D Mark IIfocallength 85flash 16cameramake Canonheight 3618fnumber 2.8exposuretime 0.008camerasoftware Adobe Photoshop Lighoriginaldate 12/13/2018 9:43:20 PMwidth 5065cameramodel Canon EOS 5D Mark II When we first found our new friend Peppermint in the office, we knew our week would be filled with some fun. Each morning, Peppermint kept us on our toes and guessing what she would be up to next. Whether she was just chilling out on the decorations or making a fresh cup of coffee, we loved having her around to add some holiday spirit. A few of our favorite Peppermint antics were when she went zip lining across our demo room floor, or when she used our production print equipment to print us out a life-sized selfie to remember her. Our Elf on the Shelf had loads of fun and provided our office with a lot of good laughs. Peppermint was a great edition to SumnerOne, but we knew our fun times with her were limited, as she was only a seasonal employee. On Christmas Day, Peppermint handed in her seasonal resignation and was back on her way to the North Pole until next year. As with any other employee, we knew there were some security measures we had to take after her departure to keep ourselves and our data safe. ## **Securing your Business After an Employee Leaves** While we know Peppermint would never cause our business any harm, there are still security precautions that needed to be taken. Most businesses are worried about protecting themselves from external security issues and don't worry as much about the internal threat lurking right around the corner. Internal employees can pose as just as big of a security risk as the cyber criminals of the world. While your employees may be compromising your security without knowing it, there are also disgruntled employees doing so with [malicious intent](https://www.information-age.com/employees-threat-123475710/). Whether the employee has left your office on good terms or bad, there are security measures your business should follow to protect itself after their departure. Here are a few of our tips about how to protect your business after an employee has left: - Change the passwords on accounts or profiles that the employee had access to. - Terminate old accounts or profiles that the employee is no longer using. - Avoid using shared names and passwords. - Conduct a review of employee access points and delete accounts that are not needed to perform daily responsibilities. - Maintain daily backups of all computer networks. - Let third-party vendors that handle your email or customer support know that the employee is no longer with your company. - Create a [termination procedure](https://businesscollective.com/10-ways-to-protect-your-business-after-an-employee-leaves/index.html), this way when an employee leaves nothing with your business security will be left up to chance. We may not be worried about Peppermint tampering with sensitive data or unleashing a cyber attack on us, but we still have to follow protocol. Securing your business should be top of mind when an employee leaves, whether it is under good terms or bad. We're sure [our IT team](https://www.sumnerone.com/managed-services/managed-it-service) will have Peppermint's credentials back in working order when she comes back to visit next year. In the meantime, she's back at work at the North Pole and its business as usual at SumnerOne. ## **SumnerOne Security Plan** Is it time for your business to create a security plan to keep your data from walking out the door with past employees? We're here to help. Contact our experts at SumnerOne to learn more about implementing security measures to protect your business and your valuable data. Give us a call or reach out online to [learn more](https://www.sumnerone.com/contact-us) about how we can help. 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