Information needs to be secured REGARDLESS of format. The best part? With a good plan, you can secure both digital and paper documents.
61% of data breaches within companies of less than 500 employees involve paper records.*
And now you’re probably counting or trying to calculate how many employees are in the office right now (and thinking about the amount of paper).
Just think about this for second: what if your law firm was on the news? Not because you won a high profile case, but because the firm had a data breach. Even worse, think about if that data breach was the result of something as simple as one of the lawyers accidentally leaving their briefcase at Starbucks (a briefcase containing two legal pads with client information written on them inside) or mistakenly throwing old case files away in the dumpster.
You might think that paper documents are more secure considering the constant barrage in the news about hackers and concerns over digital insecurity.
Not quite.
Information needs to be secured REGARDLESS of format. The best part? With a good plan, you can secure both digital and paper documents. I’ll give a few tips here in a minute.
But first – to reinforce the point – I want to share a few more statistics:
When documents are printed, do you know who’s printing them? What about when printed documents are disposed of; do you know for certain the documents containing sensitive information are disposed of properly (filed, shredded, archived, or used for an active case)? Since a paperless office is almost impossible (a completely paperless one anyway), here are some tips to ensure that your physical documents are secure:
I’ve written about the benefits of moving away from paper-based workflows to digital document management before: Documents at Your Fingertips and Finding and Using Office Documents: The Basics. But there are also security benefits too.
With document management you can keep track of who accessed documents and different versions of files. It also allows for a simpler transition of documents into a records management environment, which can be even more secure.
Laserfiche, our document management partner, identifies 9 tips to keep electronic documents secure. Here they are:
And, once someone no longer works for you, never forget to revoke his or her credentials. Keep your documents and information secure. Improve your productivity. And make sure you get to court on time.