If by now any technologist working in financial services haven’t realised the pitfalls of stealing code from your employer, here’s another case in point.

Bo Zhang, who was worked for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on a contract basis between May and August last year, has been charged with stealing proprietary code and – if found guilty – faces 10 years in prison and potentially huge fines.

This is the latest in a series of examples of technologists in financial services lifting code from an ex-employer. Last year, Sergey Aleynikov was sentenced to eight years in prison for stealing code from Goldman Sachs and Samarth Agrawal received three years for his theft from SocGen.

From an employment perspective, this again highlights why banks have been hiring information security professionals to try and ensure that they are protected from both internal and internal threats to their systems and data.

We’ve highlighted before the fact that information security jobs are continuing to emerge, even in this difficult environment, and that salaries have been heading skywards.

This is continuing into the new year, with most major investment banks still offering opportunities in information security and IT audit.

“The information security space has picked up so much in the past few months that we now have two dedicated consultants dealing with roles in this area,” says Paul Elworthy, managing director, banking and financial services at recruiters Hudson. “It’s still a mixed bag in that some banks are using third-parties to carry out the work, but generally financial services firms are offering more full-time opportunities and teams are growing.”

Hudson’s research suggests that a head of information security working in an investment bank earns around £110k, while roles lower down the career ladder pay £65-90k. On a contract basis, expect £500-750 a day for IT security and risk management roles.