Law Firm Data Security at Risk: Keys to Protecting Your Files

Law firm data security is hugely important for a wide range of different reasons. For starters, many people don't realize just how devastating a hack on a law firm can really be. Whereas a stolen credit card number may result in a few hundred dollars of fraudulent charges that are quickly overturned by a credit card company, a law firm hack can result in identity theft, an irreparably damaged reputation, regulations violations and more. If you run a law firm and want to make sure that you're protecting your files in a digital realm, you need to keep a few key things in mind.

Law Firm Data Security: What They're Doing Wrong

Many law firms use methods of sharing or transferring files that may be incredibly quick and easy, but do very little to protect anything at all in the event of a breach. By sending a file over e-mail, for example, you can get that important client record from one partner to another in a matter of seconds. However, if that e-mail account is hacked by someone who simply guesses the right password during a brute force attack, every document that has ever been sent using this method quickly becomes exposed to prying eyes.

Thumb drives may initially seem more secure because you're storing a digital file on a physical storage device, but this too creates issues that can't be ignored. A thumb drive can easily be lost due to its small size, which can also lead to all of those important documents quickly falling into the wrong hands.

Tips for Law Firm Data Security

One of the safest ways to flexibly secure files for transfer is to utilize FTP, or "file transfer protocol." FTP is a quick way to transfer documents in house and still maintain the highest level of security at the same time. The earliest form of FTP was not encrypted, but later forms the same SSL encryption used in online banking and in secure online shopping carts. Encryption essentially "scrambles" the files, making them unreadable even if they are intercepted to anyone without the appropriate encryption key. Because the encryption key itself is never stored on the same computer as the files, this makes it a much more secure method of storing or sharing files than e-mail or even thumb drives will ever be.

Law firm data security means not only keeping all of your electronic records as safe as possible from prying eyes, but also making sure that you still have the flexibility that you need to keep your organization running as efficiently as possible. By keeping a few best practices in mind and using secure FTP for your file transfer needs, you can go a long way towards keeping your digital files as safe and as secure as possible at all times.

Key Takeaways:

• Law firms are at more risk for data security hacks than almost any industry outside of medical and healthcare professionals.
• The types of information that can be stolen during a hack on a law firm can be hugely damaging.
• Secure file transfer methods like FTP are a way to guarantee security and still provide flexibility at the same time.