Businesses in California have a number of tools with which to fight off unauthorized intrusions into their electronic data whether perpetrated by employees, former employees, disreputable competitors or random hackers. Knowledge of these tools is essential to for counsel to advise their clients both as to preventive and remedial measures. Set forth below is a primer on three key statutes which businesses have in their arsenal to deal with breaches of electronic security. They are the federal Computer Fraud And Abuse Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1030 et seq., the California Computer Data Access And Fraud Act, Cal. Pen. Code, § 502, and the federal Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2701 et seq.

Working hand in glove with these statutory provisions, businesses should undertake preventive measures to minimize the need to resort to the statutes. The last section below contains specific recommendations to protect the businesses’ electronic data.