Enforcing strict access control mechanisms based on the principle of least privilege ensures that employees have only the access required to perform their jobs. This minimizes the risk of IP theft by reducing the number of individuals who can access sensitive information, thereby making it harder for potential bad actors to exfiltrate intellectual property. Using long, complex passwords aids in general security but does not specifically protect against targeted IP theft. Implementation of biometric security is a stronger authentication mechanism but does not by itself limit access to intellectual property at a granular level. Regularly scheduled data backups are essential for data recovery in case of data loss or corruption but do not prevent IP theft.