Had a temp in your office lately? It takes maybe five minutes to insert a flash drive and copy critical files to it. Actually, you yourself may be the worst security risk in the office. You love your flash drive/laptop/CD burner because you can take your work home with you. Trouble is, first you stop at the gym and leave the drive/CD/laptop in your locker while you regain your sanity working out only to lose it again when you return to your locker/car and realize you have no clue where that item is.

We lose gadgets all the time. I know a woman who was taking her nearly new car into the shop because, on occasion, a peculiar buzzing sound emanated from below the dash, or somewhere nearby. Day of her appointment, on her way there, she called to provide promised details to the service writer.

Woman: "Wait, it's doing it again right now!"

Service writer: "Pull over. Where's it coming from?"

Woman: "Maybe under my seat."

Service writer: "Pull over. Look under there."

She did. Then called back to cancel the appointment - she had discovered that the mysterious buzzing sound under the seat was her pager that she'd lost a week earlier.

My point (aside from loving anecdotes) is that these security risks - the flash drive, the unsecured wireless network and the casually stowed laptop - are as silly to security experts as the missing pager is to lay people.

From a technology stand point, a secure office is one in which confidential files can't go out the door casually. Drives and files in folders that require security should be password-protected and allow access only as needed. Employees should be taught simple security measures, including, for example, not leaving flash drives in the car.

Possibly a human resources professional would want to point out, right about now, that the best security involves the best hiring practices. Well, sure, but everyone makes hiring mistakes, and some of us accidentally lose, say, a flash drive and become an accidental spy in the process.

Lastly, in case you are thinking employees can't get the technology savvy needed to cover their tracks, consider this. Wired magazine, in its August 2006 issue, features a pullout section titled, "How To: A Step-by-Step Guide to Making the Most from Your Digital Life."

This section offers advice that includes details on exactly how to manipulate employers. One section, titled "Delete Files Forever," instructs on how to cover up personal use. Another section, "Foil a Snooping Boss," provides details on how to surf under cover and use alternative e-mail for personal communication. In yet another section, "Look Busy," Wired advises employees to complain constantly about being overworked and then to look busy by spending all their time e-mailing their friends. There's more, but no space left here to elaborate.

So take a look at Wired if you're curious, and appoint someone in your organization to head up your counter-spy operation, even if you are concerned only with the accidental variety.