Many corporate legal teams don’t manage litigation support services data security rigorously enough in-house. When they share this information with service providers, they take even fewer precautions. In such a case, you could be playing a potentially dangerous game, especially since the data identified for use in litigation support services may be considered your most vital and sensitive information.
Cybercriminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated with their methods of attack, and many organizations have limited resources to combat these attacks. One area where many businesses are lacking is information sharing between IT and the legal department. This may be because they do not know how to begin this process or feel uncomfortable discussing it with each other.
To protect your company’s litigation support services information, both departments need to work together by understanding what types of data exist within your organization and then how that protection should be handled – whether it is for business-critical documents, customer data, or employee information. Businesses must also include a plan for reducing risks from physical threats such as fire and natural disasters such as earthquakes.
The following points explain how legal and IT teams can work better together to manage data security internally.
Data Inventory
Knowing where your company’s data is located and who has access to it is an important part of protecting litigation support services information. By identifying what you have at your disposal, you can then consider which documents need special attention such as legal agreements or sensitive customer details.
It will also help ensure that you understand how many people can access each document or set of data so that this information can be passed on if someone changes roles within the organization – and in case a breach does occur, knowing exactly who could have been responsible for making unauthorized disclosures means you can respond more quickly and limit any damage caused.
Data Security Training
One of the best ways to introduce new employees to your security policies is by providing data security training. This should cover how data should be handled, the basics of cybersecurity, and what to do if a breach occurs. Because every employee can’t read through a lengthy information security policy and handbook before they start work, training helps ensure that everyone has the same understanding – and this way it is more likely that you will get questions asked in an appropriate manner rather than from someone who does not know where or how you would find the answer.
The benefits are two-fold: Not only does it reduce the likelihood of sensitive information being mishandled or lost but also provides peace of mind to employees that know they will not be held liable for unwittingly breaking the rules.
Cloud Security
Just like any other kind of outsourcing, it can seem tempting to transfer sensitive information out of your business by placing it with a cloud-based service provider such as Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure – especially if you have already heard of the cloud benefits. However, it is a good idea to have a thorough investigation into what data security procedures are in place before you consider this option. For example, contrary to popular belief, even the largest cloud providers do not store information or run applications on behalf of their clients as they only offer storage capacity that is accessible via private and public networks like any other service provider.
This means that you will still be responsible for making sure your company’s data is securely stored within your account while also taking measures such as password-protecting access with multi-factor authentication or keeping an audit log of all changes made – especially if you decide to enable cross-region replication as a backup method.
Disaster Recovery
Understanding how litigation support services data will be protected in the event of a disaster is important as it can help ensure that any potential legal action your company might have to mount does not fail through simple negligence. Having an established disaster recovery plan can help you identify which measures need to be taken to protect different types of data such as legal documents.
For example, if you are working with information relating to a product recall and cannot access your company’s database or even website due to technical problems, having this kind of plan in place could mean that you can quickly establish how best mutual customers can get the necessary missing details while also ensuring that employees with potentially sensitive personal information about them do not face unnecessary delay or extra expense when trying to provide urgent documentation.
It is important to remember that any legal action can die within just a few months of a business failure if there are no backups available, so having this kind of process in place will give your organization peace of mind while also making legal teams more productive and reducing time spent on manually re-entering data.
Disaster Readiness
It is always worth discussing with IT how you could train or prepare staff for the event of a disaster, especially when it comes to legal data because many businesses do not have plans in place that can help ensure their employees have the skills required if they need to communicate with customers or clients who require information right away.
This could be as simple as getting an employee’s mobile number onto a customer contact list ahead of time or having members of legal teams participate in mock situations where they have to help each other get the necessary information as part of a crisis. It can also be useful to check that employees know how to access any notes previously put together by colleagues which could give them quick access to initial facts or steps they might need to take if they are contacted about an urgent legal matter.
Legal Data Protection
IT professionals should remember that it is their job to ensure that all data is securely stored litigation support services and kept up-to-date at all times, but legal professionals do have an important role too when it comes to handling sensitive information because they often work with clients who require certain standards of confidentiality – especially when it comes to documents relating to litigation support services or court cases.
For example, if there is a particular document that must be kept confidential because it contains sensitive financial details, your company’s legal team will need to ensure that they take the proper precautions when handling it as well as only giving access to those people who have been specifically authorized. Taking additional steps such as printing and storing documents containing personal information in a secure place away from places where anyone can reach them for emergency purposes like group legal folders could also help reduce potential problems later.
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