Trade secrets are confidential business information that have value because they are not generally known. The most well known example of a trade secret is the formula for Coke. Every company, however, has trade secrets (e.g., customer lists, source code for software, methods of creating products) Every state has enacted laws to protect trade secrets, federal laws provide additional protection for trade secrets by way of severe civil and criminal penalties for theft or other misappropriation of trade secrets. The increasingly mobile workforce (i.e., employees transporting trade secrets on laptops, cell phones, and removable media) presents significant risk to a business trade secrets.”]
Source: https://www.csoonline.com/article/2136606/trade-secrets-and-ndas.html