James Bond, Data Security and Law Firms: They Have More in Common Than You May Think

Certainly we all know that James Bond always gets the coolest cars, the lady, the perfect martini – shaken, not stirred – and of course the bad guy. And, in Bond’s most recent mission, he was tasked with tracking an illusory cyber-criminal. Fortunate for Bond, he had the help of Q, one of the smartest computer programmers available, and he was able to catch the hacker.  If Bond and Q were available to everyone facing data security problems, we would always catch the bad guy and never have anything to worry about – not to mention have a pretty awesome set of wheels. Unfortunately, that it not the case and the latest prime targets for these evasive cyber-criminals are law firms.

But what would hackers want to do with law firms? Well, law firms by their very nature have access to highly sensitive information about corporate clients, and their most-important job is to keep that information confidential. Their core competency is arguing the merits of the law – but the rise of big data and the use of unstructured data dictate the need for law firms to act as secure data centers. Building secure data centers and protecting them from cyber threats is not a core competency, which is perhaps why hackers see them as a ripe target.

This is a red hot topic right now. Recently, the Sedona Conference announced that it is forming a new working group that specifically addresses the issue of data security. Additionally, the U.S. Senate proposed new legislation related to cybersecurity. This is only the tip of the iceberg for this growing area, and if you’re interested in hearing more on law firm data security, Kroll Ontrack and other industry leaders, such as Ralph Losey at Jackson Lewis, Brian Calla at Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, Alan Brill  from Kroll Associates and David Horrigan of 451 Research held a Google+ Hangout on this topic. You will find it to be a fun, interactive discussion on these issues. Check out the Google+ Hangout here.

As always, don’t forget to stay tuned to theediscoveryblog.com and ediscovery.com for all the latest in ediscovery.