Biscom’s legal business continues to grow! We are pleased to announce the addition of 5 new legal clients. Our growth is the result of Biscom’s laser focus on the legal industry. During the last 2 years Biscom has collaborated with our legal clients to identify and deliver features and enhancements to better meet the secure document needs of law firms and corporate legal departments. Of particular focus for us has been the litigation and practice support groups that have a need for a high performance file and folder upload capability to support production discovery environments. We are also hearing from law firms that are increasingly concerned about the unsanctioned use of hosted file transfer services that increase the firm’s exposure to unauthorized access to confidential client data. Our strong encryption and authentication features as well as on-premise deployment are critical to helping our legal clients offer an easy to use, firm sanctioned self service secure file transfer facility to attorneys and administrative staff. And we are not resting on our laurels. Stay tuned for future announcements of product enhancements designed to improve attorney/client collaboration.
Here at Biscom we take ILTA very seriously. After all, its members are the driving force in the evolution of legal technology. In the past year alone, we’ve exhibited at the last ILTA conference, participated in several product briefings and hosted almost a dozen roadshows on file transfer security. Now I’m excited to announce that we’ve taken the next step: ILTA has invited us to present at its 2011 conference.
The Biscom session, part of the conference’s State of the Art Technology Demos track, is scheduled for August 23 at 1:30 p.m. and will focus on the secure and audited delivery of documents and files.
The session will discuss how to:
Secure the document exchange process
Replace cumbersome and often unsecured FTP sites
Offload large email attachments
End dependence on physical media such as CDs and thumb drives
Meet regulatory compliance
Collaborate in a secure environment with clients and outside counsel
Implement advanced encryption and user authentication
Take advantage of Biscom’s integration with popular software such as SharePoint, Outlook, iManage and Litera
This is a timely decision by ILTA. News is breaking every day on the latest data breaches. These breaches mean costly fines and even more costly long-term repercussions for law firms such as hits to business development and client relations.
So if you are at ILTA 2011, join us to explore security protocols and solutions in the Canal E room of the Gaylord Opryland Hotel at 1:30 p.m. on August 23. And if you’re a Twitter enthusiast, reference hashtag #DEMO7 during the session.
One wrong keystroke or misplaced flash drive can run you $7.2 million.
That’s what a typical data breach will cost you these days, according to a data breach study released this month. This figure is up seven percent from 2009, with the most common causes of data breach attributed to breach incidents (41%), lost or stolen portable or mobile devices (35%), malicious attacks (31%) and system failure (27%.)
While $7.2 million is a sizeable sum we all can collectively cringe at, it doesn’t even come close to estimating the damage to your law firm’s reputation or client relations should it encounter a data breach. Get a taste of how it could feel by reading up on ACS:Law and how it failed to properly secure personal information.
Encryption Kryptonite
The study states that encryption is driving “a decrease in breaches due to system failure, lost or stolen devices and third-party mistakes.” I’m a big fan of encryption (and I suspect anyone in the legal world would be as well), but like Super Man, encryption faces its own version of kryptonite: File transfers via FTP or email. Both FTP and email post significant risks that can open the door for regulation violations or confidentiality breaches.
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is limited to single authentication – not two-factor authentication which is a requirement of PCI and other security standards. Also, in today’s rushed law firm IT department, there is the risk of an FTP site being set up improperly or of rogue lawyers setting up their own sites.
Email is insecure because it doesn’t allow users to encrypt large files and documents as they are transmitted to the recipient. Plus, most companies and email providers have limitations on the size of email attachments to keep the strain off the servers. This results in bounce backs, error messages and information potentially getting in the hands of someone who shouldn’t see it.
The Remedy: Managed File Transfer
You can defeat encryption kryptonite from emails and FTP sites with managed file transfer (MFT). MFT is a secure method of transferring large files and sensitive data and is typically used in place of e-mail and FTP.
With MFT, you can send encrypted files through a designated network that automatically logs and centralizes the audit trail. This applies most commonly in situations where your company is regulated by the Payment Card Information Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), HIPAA, SOX and other regulations.
Even with the best efforts, every law firm faces the potential of data breaches and the fallout that comes with it. By identifying weak links in your security – such as the encryption kryptonite of FTP and emails – and applying technology such as MFT to combat it, you elevate your ability to thwart potential data breaches. And all in a single bound.
During the past quarter, I’ve had the privilege of hosting a series of ILTA roadshows focused on security issues around file transfers. The roadshows – held in Boston, New York and DC – typically welcome around 20 IT professionals each from multiple law firms. The intimate size helps us all to have frank discussions about what keeps IT up at night.
On the forefront: Breaching client confidentiality and regulations.
Beyond the obvious dread of jeopardizing a law firm’s reputation and opening it up for massive fines, there’s a personal take as well. IT leaders are realizing that they are responsible for technology safeguards that protect client data and comply with federal and state data privacy regulations.
The Culprits: Email and FTP Sites
Two methods of potentially risky file transfer kept surfacing during our conversations: Email and FTP sites.
The attendees expressed concern that there seems to be little regard from attorneys and staff when it comes to potential security breaches caused by using email and unsecured FTP sites to transfer client documents and files.
It is almost like the proverbial Sword of Damocles is hanging over legal IT’s head. IT is only one wrong click or FTP error away from heavy fines and potential damage to law firms’ reputations.
Revenge of the Large Email Attachments
The 2010 ILTA member technology purchasing survey identified email management as the biggest issue facing legal IT for the third year running and the roadshow attendees verified that the ever-increasing size of email attachments is a growing support issue.
Is this scenario familiar?
An attorney tries to attach a 50 MB+ PDF to an email addressed to a client. If the email is lucky enough to traverse the firm’s exchange gateway, there is a good chance it will get bounced back due to recipient email size limitations. The attorney then receives an undeliverable message (sometimes not until the next day) and contacts IT for help. Cue the IT support drama!
Would you believe that one of the most popular remedies is to break up a large file into multiple smaller files and then send multiple email messages? This is a quick fix, yes, but doesn’t speak to a law firm’s technical prowess.
And Don’t Even Start us on FTPs
Another common option is for IT to erect an FTP site. After a communal groan, the attendees agreed FTP sites are often difficult to use, challenging to secure and an overall pain in the neck.
What do you think?
Does your law firm face challenges when transferring large files? What do you think are the leading security issues around this?
Leave a comment below so we can continue the conversation.
Coming to a City Near You
ILTA is planning more roadshows for Biscom so hopefully I’ll be in your neck of the woods soon. Feel free to reach out to me at cmagliato at biscom.com if you have a specific city in mind you’d like to see us in. I will keep you posted.
I’ve recently returned from the ILTA Conference in Las Vegas and if you haven’t heard, there’s been a lot of exciting buzz about the event. Biscom had the opportunity to exhibit at ILTA this year, we had a great turn out and when looking back, I’m pleased to say I left with many new connections, friends and valuable information (can’t say I left Vegas any richer though, the casinos won this time).
While the e-discovery, litigation support, and case management were among the usual hot topics at ILTA, discussions I’ve had with legal professionals suggest security and data protection are the new black. We experienced record crowds at the booth from law firms looking to solve the growing challenges of preventing unintended employee data breaches and meeting compliance with data privacy regulations. Furthermore, we were featured as one of the top 20 booths to visit at ILTA, according to Law Technology News we were the only secure file transfer provider at the conference, reinforcing our leadership in the legal market and our commitment to meeting the specific needs of law firms and corporate legal departments.
It was an exciting and successful event and one where we gained valuable insights regarding the needs and challenges of law firms, such as:
• Legal IT is growing increasingly frustrated with the cost and inefficiency of transferring large files through the traditional methods of e-mail , FTP and overnight courier. This was validated by the 2010 ILTA Member Purchasing Survey released at the conference. For the second year in a row, e-mail management was identified as the biggest challenge facing legal IT overall.
• File transfer security is an increasing concern. Security moved from the 7th position last year to the 4th position in the ILTA purchasing survey’s “biggest challenge facing IT”.
Somewhere in the middle of manning the Biscom fort in the exhibit hall, I had the chance to attend two very informative sessions; “Taming the E-mail Filing Monster with iManage WorkSite 8.5.” This session included an open panel discussion of three law firms and how they deployed iManage to move e-mails out of exchange to iManage for tracking e-mail content by matter and reducing exchange storage – a growing need for law firms. The other, “The Changing Regulatory Landscape and its Effect on Law Firms,” featured Beth Chiaiese, Director of Loss Prevention, and Jodi Malek, CIO, of Foley & Lardner. Key topics discussed involved HIPAA, HiTECH and the Massachusetts Data Breach regulations and the specific compliance requirements for each, including the important role technology plays in meeting compliance, such as the encryption and secure transfer of sensitive data.
We also had an opportunity to meet with several members of the press. Sean Doherty, Sr. Technical Editor, Law.com was excited to hear about the new BDS 4.0 features, integration with iManage and plans to integrate with SharePoint (Last December Sean published an in-depth BDS product review in Law.com). We certainly appreciate his time.
Overall, the ILTA Conference was a rousing success and we look forward to next year’s conference.
As an added benefit, you may also enjoy the these post-ILTA reviews:
One wrong keystroke or misplaced flash drive can run you $7.2 million.
During the past quarter, I’ve had the privilege of hosting a series of 
I’ve recently returned from the ILTA Conference in Las Vegas and if you haven’t heard, there’s been a lot of exciting buzz about the event. Biscom had the opportunity to exhibit at ILTA this year, we had a great turn out and when looking back, I’m pleased to say I left with many new connections, friends and valuable information (can’t say I left Vegas any richer though, the casinos won this time).
