Since its introduction in May 2016, the Defend Trade Secrets Act (the DTSA) has captured the focus of employers as the foremost source of statutory protection against trade secret misappropriation, leading many employers to revise separation and confidentiality agreement templates and rework employee policies to include language specific to the statute. Somewhat forgotten in this focus on the DTSA, however, has been the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (the CFAA).

Once the only reliable statutory argument for federal-question jurisdiction in a trade secret dispute, the CFAA now acts as a complement to the DTSA by protecting sensitive information from a different perspective. This being said, several circuits are split on the scope of the protections afforded to employers under the CFAA, limiting the statute’s effectiveness in certain jurisdictions. Even so, employers in all jurisdictions should not forget the CFAA when considering the litany of available remedies to protect sensitive information from misappropriation or dissemination, as well as when shaping personnel policies.

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