Law offices need to look inside the IT perimeter to ensure security for copiers and client documents.
Email management is no longer the biggest concern for legal IT departments.
Whew, right?
Not so fast, the number 1 concern now: security management.*
Security of information is crucial in the legal community. With so much personal and privileged information to keep safe, it’s no wonder that 23% of the questions from the International Legal Technology Association’s (ILTA) 2015 IT survey report were focused on security-related questions.
Writing in the InsideLegal.com blog, Jobst Elster summarized a few of the report’s security findings:
Encryption on laptop hard drives (+10%), in email (+12%), on removable media (+8%), and on smartphones (+13%) is in high demand as an integral component of data security.
- Mobile Device Management (MDM) is now mainstream… There was an 8 point gain this year in MDM deployments with 52% of respondents using this technology.
- The three biggest law firm security challenges cited in the ILTA Tech Survey include ‘balancing security with usability’ (31%), ‘user acceptance and behavior’ (24%), and a tie for ‘user education and awareness’ (22%) and ‘firm culture’ (22%). We also observed that ‘client security requirements’ (14%), ‘BYOD/mobile devices’ (12%) and especially ‘cloud apps/data security’ (4%) actually ranked much lower compared to recent related hype and media coverage.
- Security awareness training programs continue to gain momentum with 49% now having them in place, including 86% of law firms with more than 350 attorneys. 79% of these programs are developed internally (compared to 86% in 2014) with the trend toward more outsourcing in this area.
- Other security measures firms are doubling down on include ethical walls, which averaged 88% usage among firms with 350+ attorneys, intrusion prevention systems (54%, up 14% from 2014) and intrusion detection systems (52%, up 6% from 2014).
What’s Missing Here?
Of course, every one of the security concerns in the bullets above are important. There are a few other information security issues that copiers can help with.
We’ve covered a number of copier security-related issues in previous blog posts over the past year. Here are a few – most of these address security issues that many business don’t even know about.
Why Digital Copiers Are a Security Time Bomb
Copiers are essentially computers “under the hood” these days. Are you sure the information on your devices’ hard drives is secure? Click here to read more.
You Could Be a Sitting Duck for Hackers – Here’s Why
Any device connected to the Internet could be a security hole. Here are six tips to help you fill in this potential security gap. Click here to read more.
Did You Know: Your Print Jobs Can “Follow You”?
Printing from your desk to a communal copier can leave confidential information in the open, follow me printing allows you to print from anywhere and release the print job at the device. Click here to read more.
IT Security Breaches: It’s Not Always the Bad Apple
Negligent and incompletely trained employees are the source of many security breaches. This general post explains a few tips you can take to keep phishing attacks from catching you and a few other employee-related security concerns. Click here to read more.
Rules-based Printing and Bulging Bottom Lines
Office printing rules are often created to save money. Print rules can also be established that can help keep documents secure. Click here to read more.
You can’t address security concerns that you don’t know about and understand. I hope these articles help you learn about copier security and how to use your copiers’ functionality to keep your firm’s documents firmly under control.
*Source: 2015 ILTA/InsideLegal Technology Purchasing Survey