100% of it is pure paranoia. Working over a VPN or any other sillyness really has no effect on an employees ability to take your data. All they need is 30 secon

100% of it is pure paranoia. Working over a VPN or any other sillyness really has no effect on an employees ability to take your data. All they need is 30 seconds with a flash drive (or a screwdriver when nobody is looking and remove an HDD) and your data is gone. Something like source code is even easier with only a few parts in the code that is really ever 'trade secret' and it can be photographed with a cellphone. Rather work on making your employees loyal to the company by being loyal to them. A happy and well paid employee is not going to steal your data, ever. An unhappy and smart employee will steal your data regardless of any silly obstacles you try to put up.