How to explain why I was terminated on applications (employment, purchase)

[Nan B]

I was recently terminated and not sure how to explain in one paragraph on applications & during interviews. It is documented as follows; “you broke a reasonable employer rule.” Termination – Gross violation of Company (***) policy. Company handbook section 4.3G, “Unauthorized or careless use of the Company’s material, equipment or property”.
I found a folder that I created was accidentally put on the internal server that contained sensitive company info. I moved it to a jump drive until I could "clean" it up and return it the next morning.
UNAUTHORIZED – Part of my job for the 2 ½ years of employment was creating, monitoring and updating files and folders on the internal co server on a daily basis and I have had no previous reprimands or violations.
CARELESS -I moved the folder from the server to a flash drive to secure and safeguard the personal employee information, vendor materials & pricing and the outsource costs and purchase patterns of the company. This was only a temporary move because of the time restraint I was not able to remove the files before I had to leave the office. I absolutely did not in any way do this to harm the Company, owner or anyone. In fact my intentions were quite the opposite. Had I left the files in the folder on the server until I came in the next morning, as the employees begin coming in to the office and starting their day they would have to log into the server. The length of time between when they start coming in and I came in is approximately 2 hours and the office is closed. Because the office is not open, generally people will work on price quotes, verifying the status of the existing jobs and making sure that they have all of the materials needed to complete that job. All of these tasks would require them to either open that folder or if the folder is not available each employee was given a binder for their department that contains the needed information and the job report is printed out by each employee at the end of their shift the night before. The employees could complete their jobs without the folder on the server and there would be no impact but if I had left that folder as it was on the server and they opened the folder to access the files they needed the potential for damage to the company and the knowledge that employee would gain would be irreversible.

[WizardOfRadical]

Just say you did not like the direction the company was going, and it was a mutual split.

[CAHntr]

What Wizard said. From what I've heard, your former company can legally say why you were fired/terminated but most companies will only confirm your hire date and last day of work to avoid lawsuits, etc. Good luck.