2015 has been an amazing year for Nike.
Co-founder and chairman Phil Knight announced stepping down and retiring from the company, and despite his own financial security he is still very much so invested in Nike's future success. With hopes of reaching an annual revenue of $50 billion by 2020, the sportswear giant launched "Keep It Tight," an education program for employees, making them aware of security breaches, mainly cyber security breaches.
According to The Oregonian, Nike's push for added security comes from at least two recent security breaches. In 2014, Nike employees plead guilty to conspiracy charges stemming from transporting and selling stolen goods. That same year Nike also filed a lawsuit after three of its top designers left the Swoosh to open up a design studio for adidas, which was later settled.
The "Keep It Tight" program is designed to raise employee awareness through web-based education internally and through posters scattered throughout the campus reminding workers to be vigilant.
"Companies are now dealing with sophisticated levels of digital crime," said Gus Malezeis, president of Tripwire, a Portland online security software company. "They're finding that these (bad) guys have been here and they scoped out the data and they're walking away with it."
Whether on paper or save on a computer, guarding intellectual property such as footwear and apparel design templates is without a doubt vital to Nike's success. The report also stated that even former employees from the mid-1990s were concerned about potential dumpster diving of drawings that had been disposed of outside the Michael Jordan Building on the south side of the Nike campus, where designers were then located.
Nike has been actively protecting its intellectual property for years already. With everything moving to cyberspace, expect the number one sportswear company in the world to continue its effort in protecting what's theirs.
