Downloads may draw closer scrutiny when an employee is preparing to leave, but there is no strong population-wide evidence that workers generally download more in the month before resigning. The UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) cites monitoring during the 30 days before departure as one possible risk-control measure—not as proof of a universal pattern. A change in activity is a reason to examine context, not evidence by itself of theft or intent.
What a change in downloads can—and cannot—tell you
A departure can leave someone with legitimate access while their relationship with the organization is changing. That makes the period worth considering in an insider-risk plan, especially where a role has access to sensitive information. The NCSC says mitigation should vary with the situation and the risks posed by different users in its guidance, Reducing data exfiltration by malicious insiders.
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But a download spike is not a verdict. It could reflect ordinary work, an authorized handover, or an unusual access event that merits review. Malicious insider activity is relatively rare, the NCSC notes, and employees may retain data without malicious intent—for example, because they believe they can keep work they created or do not realize company files remain on a personal device, according to EY’s November 2022 employee departure briefing.
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The available figures do not establish how often downloads change in the month before resignation. Their populations, dates, and sources matter:
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| Figure | What it describes | How to interpret it |
|---|---|---|
| 5.9% of 219 employees | Microsoft’s March 2021 presentation said that, in a particular scanned tenant population of recently departed employees with resignation dates, 5.9% showed exfiltration patterns. | A historical example from one tenant scan, not a general workforce prevalence estimate or a measure of current product performance. See Microsoft’s March 2021 Insider Risk Management presentation. |
| 70% | EY’s November 2022 briefing attributed this claim—that intellectual-property theft occurs within the 90 days before a resignation announcement—to CurrentWare. | EY is a secondary source for the figure; the underlying study was not independently verified. It should not be presented as an established estimate. |
| 45% | EY attributed a claim that employees download, save, or send work-related files before leaving to the Swiss Cyber Institute. | The underlying evidence was not independently verified. It is not a universal rate. |
| 43% | EY attributed a claim about business emails forwarded to personal accounts in 2020 to Statista. | A dated, secondary-reproduced figure, not a current rate. |
The NCSC’s 30-day example is a risk-management window, not evidence that a universal behavioral shift occurs during that period. Its guidance also mentions notice and being told of redundancy as possible triggers for considering controls.
Why download counts need context
A raw count leaves out the questions that make an event meaningful. A review should consider the employee’s duties and access, the sensitivity of the files, when the activity occurred, where data went, and whether the pattern fits established work. This is a practical interpretation of the NCSC’s risk-based guidance and indicators described in Microsoft’s historical material, not a validated scoring method.
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Nor will a log of whole-file downloads necessarily show every way information can move. The NCSC describes methods including copying excerpts, taking screenshots, changing filenames or formats, and hiding information in ordinary files. These examples explain why a single metric can be incomplete; they do not make an isolated anomaly proof of misconduct.
Microsoft’s March 2021 presentation described indicators such as large SharePoint downloads, unusual mass downloading or sharing, and activity after termination. It also described detecting slower data movement over a date range and movement through multiple methods. Those are historical examples of vendor capabilities in that presentation, not a guarantee of current availability or independent evidence of effectiveness.
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How organizations can respond without treating an alert as proof
Limit access before a departure arises
The Federal Trade Commission’s Protecting Personal Information: A Guide for Business recommends least privilege: give each employee access only to the resources needed for their particular job. Limiting unnecessary access reduces exposure without relying solely on monitoring after an unusual event.
Use a proportionate monitoring plan
The NCSC presents enhanced monitoring during the 30 days before departure as one possible measure, alongside other circumstances such as notice or redundancy. It does not prescribe the same controls for every employee. Organizations should set and communicate monitoring policies consistently, with governance and privacy in view. Microsoft’s historical material also recognized the need to balance employee privacy with organizational risk.
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Make leaver procedures cover devices and accounts
The NCSC advises retrieving official devices and closing accounts when employment ends, and suggests considering post-departure auditing where appropriate. Personal-device arrangements need attention too: company data may remain on a device even when an employee did not intend to keep it. A clear process for handling those arrangements can reduce both residual access and misunderstandings.
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Investigate the transfer, not just the volume
When activity merits review, examine the data involved, the work context, the employee’s access, and the transfer route before drawing conclusions. A large download that supports a documented business task is different from unexplained movement of sensitive data to an unexpected destination. This is a prudent risk-based approach, not a regulator-issued checklist or a finding that any particular employee acted improperly.
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Where to set the boundary between prevention and monitoring
Organizations can make different choices about when and how they apply controls. The sources identify these as relevant policy dimensions, but do not provide a head-to-head study showing which combination works best:
- Prevention or detection: restrict access to what a role needs, then use monitoring and auditing as complementary controls.
- Timing: decide whether a policy is triggered by an upcoming departure, formal notice, or another risk change; the NCSC’s 30-day example is one option, not a universal rule.
- Device arrangements: distinguish managed company devices from personal-device or BYOD arrangements when planning how data and access are handled.
- Alert interpretation: assess volume alongside role, file sensitivity, timing, and destination rather than treating a volume threshold alone as a conclusion.
The aim is to manage access and investigate credible signals fairly—not to infer motive from the calendar or a single download event.
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