I need to pound on HR for a bit. Before an employee is terminated, CONTACT IT AND GIVE THEM A HEADS-UP! There has been several instances when disgruntled employees have damaged systems before being shown the door. Don't look for details here, I don't want to provide a to-do list for miscreants.

IT, this should be part of your "Employee Termination Procedure(s)":

1. Grab a forensically sound image of all media that the soon-to-be-terminated-employee has had access to. This is necessary in our litigious times. Contact your legal resources to get feedback on how long to retain the image(s).
2. Zero wipe any computer before re-tasking it. I know it is a pain, but you cannot have any crud being passed on to a new user. It will also validate step #1.
3. Don't delete user accounts... suspend them. You may need to access information contained in user profiles or on the network in as native a format as possible. Once the account is deleted, recovery is a pain in the backside. Again, check with legal to see how long to keep the accounts on the system.

Tags: Firing Employees, Termination, Litigation, Criminal Activity, Liable