From Ryan Groom,
Your Guide to Business Security.
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When an employee is terminated, especially one with significant control over the network, a company must have a well thought out strategy to defend its assets, provide business continuity and prevent any reprisal that may arise from terminating said employee.

The process becomes even more important when the person being terminated has administrative access to the organization. The Roman satirist Juvenal penned the phrase “Quis custodiet custodes ipsos?” Loosely translated means "Who will watch the watchers?" When releasing a Network Administrator or Manager, this quote takes on a new meaning. The person you have trusted to run the infrastructure must now be removed from the equation.

Trying to recover from firing a rogue System Administrator is infinitely harder than planning to fire one. Although the policy can vary depending on an organization’s requirements, the basic identified steps will remain the same.

The Three Step Approach

The important factor to remember is that when establishing a termination process it removes the ad hoc and personal feel to the event. An undefined termination leads to errors and events that may be over looked. When the individual understands that a termination policy is in effect and will be applied uniformly to all employees, it can greatly reduce the anxiety for all involved.