IP protection
Most IP isn’t hacked. It’s walked out.
To get funded you share your financials, pro formas and SR&ED evidence: your R&D trade secrets. Here’s how IP actually gets stolen, and how LayUp is built so yours doesn’t.
Who takes it
Usually someone already inside: an employee, a partner, a supplier.
- 85%+
of U.S. federal trade-secret cases: the accused was someone the owner knew, an employee or a business partner.
Almeling et al., Gonzaga Law Review (2010) [A] - 93%
of 358 U.S. state-court trade-secret cases: the accused was an employee or business partner.
Almeling et al., state courts 1995–2009 (2011) [B] - 65%
of insiders who stole IP had already taken a job with a competitor or started their own company.
Symantec insider-theft study (2011) [C]
And most of them took files they were already allowed to open. That’s why “who can see it” isn’t enough; you need to know who did. [C]
What gets taken
Share of insider IP-theft cases by what was taken. A case can involve more than one. Symantec (2011) [C]
- Trade secrets52%
- Billing, price lists, admin data30%
- Source code20%
- Proprietary software14%
- Customer information12%
- Business plans6%
How it leaves the building
- 54%
of insiders moved the stolen data over a network: email, remote access or a file transfer.
Symantec (2011) [C] - 31%
of breaches started with an exploited software flaw, now the #1 way in.
Verizon DBIR 2026 [D] - 13%
of breaches started with stolen sign-in details.
Verizon DBIR 2026 [D]
How LayUp closes each way out
| Way out | How it’s used | LayUp |
|---|---|---|
| Files sent to personal accounts, competitors, or a fake “LayUp” asking for them | We never take documents by email. Every request is a secure upload page that works only for you. Live | |
| Downloads before leaving | Bulk copies to a personal drive or USB stick before resigning | Every view and download is recorded in “Who opened this”, and the record can’t be edited. |
| Departing teammates | People keep access after they leave | Owners remove a teammate in one click; their access ends at once. Invite people to one project, not the whole company. Live |
| Vendor and partner staff | A service provider reading client files | LayUp staff open your files only when you switch access on, and every open is recorded. Your files are never used to train AI. Live |
| Phishing and stolen logins | Someone signs in as a real user | An authenticator app is required before anyone shares a sensitive file. LayUp staff always use one. Live |
| Unpatched software | Known flaws used to get in | LayUp runs on managed cloud services (AWS through Supabase, and Vercel) that apply security patches for us. Live |
We will never ask you to email us a document.
Not your financials, not your incorporation papers, not your SR&ED evidence. Every request from LayUp is a link to a secure upload page with your name on it. If you get an email asking you to reply with a file, or to send one to an address, it isn’t from us. Forward it to security@layup.fund.
Get funded. Keep your secrets.
Upload once, apply everywhere. You see every time a file is opened.
Just tell us how much you’re trying to raiseSee every provider, what they keep and where: Trust Centre.
- Almeling et al., “A Statistical Analysis of Trade Secret Litigation in Federal Courts,” Gonzaga Law Review (2010).
- Almeling et al., “A Statistical Analysis of Trade Secret Litigation in State Courts,” 1995–2009, 358 cases (2011).
- Symantec, insider theft of intellectual property study (December 2011), as reported by eWeek and Dice Insights.
- Verizon, 2026 Data Breach Investigations Report, as reported by Help Net Security (May 2026).