Legal practices need to maintain the highest levels of integrity, confidentiality and security. To do so not only requires sound ethical practice from professionals themselves, it also demands secure systems are in place.
The large-scale move towards remote working as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic exposed a range of potential weaknesses when it came to the systems that firms had in place to make it possible.
Remote working has exacerbated the cybersecurity threat across society, and law firms are no exception. The information that legal firms keep on files is potentially of high value to criminals, meaning that the security measures they take should be on par with those offering financial services.
With remote and blended working now an integral part of working practices, how can legal firms ensure that their systems are completely secure?
Remote working comes with increased risks
There’s no escaping the fact that remote working increases the risk of cyber-security breaches. The speedy transition to remote working without having the proper infrastructure in place was accompanied by a host of new risks. Professionals were using their home wi-fi, which comes complete with the risk of being easily hacked into. Many were working on personal laptops and desktops which often have little security and any protection it does have can be out of date. This makes it far more likely that they’ll be a victim of hacks and cyber-attacks.
Most personal laptops and desktops only have minimal malware protection installed, if they have any protection at all. Many companies provided work laptops at the start of the pandemic. While these enabled people to separate their work and personal computing, often these offered no more protection than personal laptops.
Due to time pressures, many law firms responded on an ad hoc basis, finding ways that worked rather than thinking about some of the larger issues such as security. With remote working ongoing, many firms have still been slow to respond.
How can law firms create a remote working system that guarantees security?
In a world where cyber-security threats are growing it might seem near impossible to eliminate all potential security threats. While there’s never room for any complacency, different systems offer different degrees of protection against the range of possible threats.
Is there a way of facilitating remote working that is both secure, user-friendly and easily scalable?
Hosted desktop for law firms
An increasing number of law firms are seeing the advantages of hosted desktop services. Hosted or virtual desktop infrastructure is a versatile technology that allows you to run and manage your desktop operation at a distance.
Your entire desktop and laptop environments, such as windows, widgets, folders and toolbars will be stored on a remote server rather than on the hardware which is being used at any particular time.
All of the applications your team requires to carry out their work will be available whenever and wherever they want it, whether they’re in the office, at home or on the train. While this brings real flexibility to how your company works, it also has a strong security advantage as well.
Hosted desktop servers will usually have extremely high-levels of security. In the case of One Tech’s hosted desktop services, data is stored at UK-based data centres with world class levels of security.
New threats are continually monitored, and security measures are consistently upgraded and made responsive to whatever challenges are arising. This means that when legal firms use One Tech hosted desktop services their data is kept more secure than it would be if it was stored in-house. Threats are monitored and neutralised before they have a chance to become a problem.
What are the other benefits of hosted desktop for law firms?
The great advantage of hosted desktops is not only do they provide legal firms with the maximum security protection available at any one time, it’s also a highly cost-effective option. It removes the need for expensive hardware, constant antivirus updates, licensing etc.
Hosted desktops will also include IT support, although the amount available will differ depending on the provider. This means that should any potential security issues arise, there is IT support on hand when you need it to address the issue.
Hosted desktops provide a level of IT support that it wouldn’t be realistic for all but the largest legal firms to retain in-house.
For security, scalability and ensuring continuity of service while keeping a lid on costs, hosted desktops are the optimal solution for legal firms when it comes to remote working.
To find out more about how our hosted desktop can ensure your firm’s online security contact One Tech UK today.
