7 Tips for Sharing Legal Files Securely

27
Jul
2014

Ahmet Tuncay

Today’s legal worker is more mobile than ever. From case files to client communications, so much work performed by today’s attorneys is done via mobile devices. As a result, the risk of data leakage is becoming a heightened priority for law firms everywhere. 

In fact, lawyers and their staff are collaborating and sharing files using any method that’s accessible to them, from any device they have on hand.

Files are shared via email, taken on the road on thumb drives and shared in public file sharing services built for consumer use, not secure enterprise sharing. The result is creating legal risk like never before.

Why is this so critical for the legal professional? Any risk of a security breach with client confidential information can result in costly consequences, in terms of reputation, fines and costly law suits. 

This challenge has been compounded by the explosion of new bring-your-own-device (BYOD) initiatives. When paired with the ever-mounting pressures impacting today’s legal IT organizations, including minimizing costs and resource requirements while safeguarding firm data to meet compliance and governance requirements, these challenges may make finding a solution to secure file sharing difficult to navigate. But, when you know what to look for the choice becomes easy. 

Here are seven key features to look for when it comes to enabling the secure sharing of legal files so that your client data is secure and risk free. 

1. Comprehensive Mobile Support – To make the file sharing solution as useful as possible for your legal teams, select a service that supports a broad range of mobile devices and enables integrated Microsoft Office file editing on tablets and mobile phones. This can eliminate the need for third-party mobile apps that create increased potential for data leakages by removing the need for users to “open-in” or “open-with” third-party applications.
2. Dedicated Geo-Redundant Data Centers – Reduce any possibility of experiencing service interruption, performance degradation or malware infections by selecting an online file sharing service that owns and operates geo-redundant data centers. For increased data privacy and control, it’s also important that data centers are geographically located to ensure data remains within certain countries and regions.
3. Granular Policy Management – An enterprise-grade file sharing solution should also provide complete IT control over all projects, folders and files created by anyone. It should feature full control of users groups and their permission policies and full control of share, sync and public link permissions. This level of granular policy management will assure that you have complete control over document access by anyone using your service, inside and outside your organization. All administration features should also be supported by detailed reporting functionality to support compliance auditing.
4. Simplified Administration – Select a service that enables an administrator to easily control and manage access to corporate data based on user, content and devices. Ensure that it features the ability to monitor and report on user and content activity.
5. Data Encryption and Authentication – To ensure protection of documents at every stage of their lifecycle, a secure file sharing solution should provide encryption for data in transit, in session and on device and in all locations where user files are stored. It should also employ best practices for authentication key storage and rotation management, two-factor authentication, data leak prevention and remote device wipe functionality. 
6. Continuous Monitoring – Ensure that your selected service implements comprehensive, 24x7 infrastructure monitoring techniques to continuously guard against, monitor, alert on and assess potential security risks. 
7. SSAE 16 Certified and SOC 2 Audited – Select a service that has been validated by an independent report on service organization control, including the successful completion of a SSAE 16 SOC2 Type 2 audit. Performed by certified public accountants, these audits evaluate internal and end user operations regarding customer data protection, access controls, authentication mechanisms, audit trails, physical and logical security, software development, change control and many other critical operational areas that impact service reliability.  

Regardless of whether your legal workers are in the office, or on the road, providing them with a secure file sharing solution will improve their productivity and safeguard valuable client data. Don’t risk your firm’s reputation or expose your clients to data leaks. Secure their data and your law firm’s future with an enterprise-grade file sharing solution and help your legal teams do business faster.