Security

In early January, LPM will publish The 2013 Solo and Small Firm Legal Technology Guide. This annual guide is the only one of its kind written to help solo and small firm lawyers find the best technology for their dollar. You’ll find the most current information and recommendations on computers, servers, networking equipment, legal software, printers, security products, smartphones, the iPad, …

Navigating Facebook’s privacy settings and friend lists can be a challenge.  Whether you’re looking for clients, networking with your peers, or simply staying in touch with friends and relatives, it’s important to know exactly what you’re sharing on Facebook.  Thankfully, Facebook includes a simple tool that lets you check just that: how your profile looks to your friends (and to …

I have been looking for an easy and affordable way to encrypt my electronic documents stored in the cloud.  My preferred cloud storage options at this time are either Microsoft SkyDrive or Dropbox.  However, neither provide me with complete assurance that their existing security adequately protects documents that I want to keep completely confidential. After trying Viivo (formerly SecretSync) I found …

We’ve all had the how did it know?! moment when using technology. Perhaps you opened a restaurant review website and it listed restaurants near your office without asking for an address. Or maybe you spent a few minutes shopping online for a new coffee table, and now every site you visit seems to have advertisements for coffee tables. Much of this can …

Attorneys have an obligation to protect their client’s data from unauthorized access, and there are few methods of protection more effective than encryption. When communicating over the Internet on wired/wireless networks, or on multiple devices, you risk losing valuable information to unwanted guests. Not protecting your data is dangerous, and while encryption sounds complicated, it’s an easy solution that will …

With the profession changing rapidly, many lawyers find themselves practicing in non-traditional settings: from their homes, from shared office spaces, or from a client’s office just to name a few examples.  This change in setting can mean less control over who has physical access to your computer. One simple way to protect yourself is to enable automatic screen locking.  Once …

Securing and protecting your firm’s data is essential. Client files, important communications and valuable work product often exist exclusively in digital format today, and thus a major data loss could have catastrophic professional and ethical ramifications. Whether you’re revisiting an existing backup strategy or seriously implementing one for the first time, we’ve put together a five-step plan to help you …

Adapted and excerpted from Locked Down: Information Security for Lawyers (2012) by Sharon D. Nelson, David G. Ries, and John W. Simek, now available from LPM Publishing. Smartphones and tablets offer great benefits to attorneys and law firms. They also present great risks. It is critical for attorneys to understand and address these risks, particularly in the area of safeguarding …

As we wrote earlier this year, metadata — the hidden information in electronic files — is a significant concern for lawyers.  Metadata can contain important and revealing information ranging from the document’s origins to detailed records of changes and comments left during the document’s creation.  If proper care isn’t taken, a lawyer can easily reveal confidential information to opposing counsel and/or …

Stand on a crowded train platform in any major city and you won’t have much trouble spotting the people carrying laptops.  The giveaway is usually their bag: bags made by companies who only produce laptop bags and computer accessories; backpacks emblazoned with computer brand names or logos; over-sized designer handbags with laptops or expensive tablets clearly protruding. Unfortunately, these conspicuous …