Month: May 2018

Every week brings a new headline about cybersecurity, or rather the data breach that has occurred because company X was hacked by cyberattack Y. Ransomware, malware, distributed denial of service, phishing – each week it’s a new culprit and a different victim. The news can be intimidating. Many of the companies being hardest hit have resources and reputations.

This creates the idea that cyberattacks are all powerful, disruptive forces that can strike anywhere at any time, rather like lightning in a storm. However, just like lightning, cyberattacks have safeguards. They can be guarded against by taking precautionary steps, many legal firms are simply dragging their feet when it comes to putting up the metaphorical lightning rod.

The Current State Of Law Firm Cybersecurity

Data from a LogicForce report confirms that many legal firms are not doing enough when it comes to matters of cybersecurity. Unlike certain industries, law offices have specific standards set on data governance and information security. The penalties for violating said regulations are severe, including loss of license and income.
Nevertheless, the LogicForce report found that only 5 percent of law firms were compliant with their own cybersecurity and data retention policies. In fact, the overwhelming majority – 77 percent – hadn’t even formed concrete cybersecurity protocols.

This slowness when handling such vital matters is not only dangerous but potentially costly.  Studies found that SMBs are paying roughly $117,000 per data breach incident. Larger companies can expect each cyberattack to cost over $1 million.

LogicForce data concluded that cybercriminals have no rhyme or reason when it comes to determining which firms they target. Large or small, wealthy or new – every law firm is at risk and cannot afford to delay cybersecurity policies. Cybercrime is not like its traditional counterpart. The infiltration does not need to be designed to a specific building blueprint or staff makeup. Part of what makes cybersecurity such a pressing issue is a hacker’s ability to target multiple businesses in different industries and locations simultaneously.

While every law firm LogicForce surveyed was targeted for classified client data, only 60 percent were even aware they’d been breached. Cybercrime does damage over time. The longer a malicious third party has access to data, the more files they can access. Organizations that can detect a breach within its first day can drastically limit the damage being done.

Cybercriminals can target multiple servers and networks simultaneously.

How Cloud Solutions Can Help

Many legal firms can feel powerless when it comes to cybersecurity. It can feel like this specialized new form of protection demands either mass resources or a talented and trained IT staff. However, law offices do not need to combat cybercrime on their own.
Part of the reason cloud solutions like Afinety Cloud Platform have become popular is due to their increased cybersecurity abilities.  Multifactor authentication, data encryption and email protection are ways in which firm can protect themselves from breaches.  Many cloud solutions are designed with detection tools to watch for attempted data breaches. For example, Afinety’s anti-intrusion service successfully blocked a total of 6,931 breach attempts and 1,152 would-be virus attacks on our clients’ networks all within the month of April of this year!

Law offices clearly need help with their cybersecurity efforts and cloud solutions can provide that crucial aid.

Efficiently, Securely And Successfully Operate A Paperless Law Practice

Most of the work we do today is done on the computer, but that doesn’t mean paper has gone away. Many organizations still rely on paper for internal processes, external contracts and billing procedures.

Shifting to a paperless office is not only good for the environment, but also for business. Cloud-based, digital solutions can improve productivity, control costs, and reduce office redundancies.

Here are six ways to transition your law office away from paper:

1. Convert Existing Paper Documents Into Digital

It’s hard to go digital if most of your existing documents are in paper form. Therefore, one of the first steps toward a truly paperless office is to digitize those existing assets. Depending on the amount of documents currently housed at your offices, you may decide to take on this task yourself, or outsource it to a vendor. Similarly, you can encourage your staff to digitize their personal documents via an app. There are a number of apps that can use a smartphone’s built-in camera to capture crisp, clear images of documents.

2. Invest In Collaboration Solutions

One of the primary benefits of a paperless office is the boost in productive collaboration that you can expect to see. Cloud-based collaboration solutions make it easy for personnel to access and edit documents from any device, at any time. In fact, some solutions make it possible to “check out” documents so that multiple stakeholders can work on the project without worrying about overwriting each others’ work. When considering collaboration suites, choose a solution with ample security protection.

The cloud makes your documents available from any authorized device.

3. Store Everything In A Secure Cloud

When your law office handles confidential information, it’s your responsibility to make sure it stays that way. Cloud solutions can provide multiple levels of security, ensuring that the only people who see your documents are those with the authority to do so.

Security is especially important during the transport of documents. A cloud solution eliminates many of the threats inherent in transporting paper documents because the data never actually moves from the cloud. A secure cloud will ensure that your confidential information remains closed off from prying eyes.

4. Incentivize Paperless Productivity

Creating a paperless law office requires the buy-in of all stakeholders. To incentivize the shift toward digital documentation, you’ll need to ensure that your digital solutions are capable of not only replacing paper, but also developing increased technology. To be sure, the environmental impact of paper is an important reason for making the switch, but your firm should see other benefits as well.

As you transition away from paper to cloud solutions, make sure everyone understands why the office is making the switch. Transparent lines of communication will help everyone get on the same (digital) page.

5. Consider E-Billing And E-Signatures

Contracts and bills are two areas where paper still remains a part of the modern law office. And yet, many intuitive cloud solutions exist for these important aspects of the business. Plus, many professionals prefer the benefits offered by paperless solutions. In fact, a survey from Bill.com found that 78 percent of millennial business owners prefer paperless bills over the traditional method.

When all of these processes have shifted to a digital medium, you’re office will be in a better position to track all kinds of new metrics, allowing for further improvements down the line. Though it’s hard to track signature requests in paper form, doing so for e-signatures takes a matter of seconds.

Cloud solutions can eliminate the need for excessive paper documentation at any law office. To lean more about how to leverage the cloud at at your firm, visit Afinety.com today.