CloudMask Blog

Data security and privacy compliance and competitiveness are one in the same for law firms. For better or worse, whether lawyers love it or hate it, technology is now a fundamental aspect of the legal sector. While the reliance on IT isn't new in law by any means, modern technologies such as cloud computing, mobile devices, and software-as-a-service solutions now play...

Data Masking/Tokenization/Anonymization replaces sensitive information with fictitious data while retaining the original data format. The data masking process lets you continue to work with your data as if it were not encrypted. Databases, business applications and collaboration software continue to work as if the data was real, but unauthorized personnel only have...

The ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) legislation details what measures businesses and individuals must take to comply with ITAR requirements and specifies severe penalties, both civil and criminal, for non-compliance. The reach of the regulations is broad and suppliers of all kinds may be subject to requirements to keep sensitive information secure and...

Countries are establishing data residency regulation to protect private and classified data generated from their citizen by mandating storing this information within that country (the country of origin). The theory is that the laws of the country in which the data is stored apply to that data. Large cloud providers such as Amazon, Microsoft, Salesforce are opening cloud...

The cloud clearly provides a number of benefits for businesses and associations, but as many are aware, remaining compliant with regional, federal and industry law and regulations is a major challenge. For decades, organizations have kept control over their data and customers' information as it was simply stored in on-premise data centers. Now, cloud services are the de...

If you work in the law profession or are an IT professional responsible for law firm records, you know to what extent your business depends on the ability to keep sensitive client information confidential. The issues raised by storing law firm client data digitally are data security, data accessibility and the maintaining of legal privilege. When you store client...

Effective cybersecurity is essential for law firm operations, for regulatory compliance and for keeping a good reputation, but it requires a familiarity with the principles of secure IT. Legal ethics require that lawyers keep private information secure and preserve client records. As a member of the legal profession, you have to ask how service providers deal with...

The discussion of data breach liability is complex. In the Wired article “The Crooked Path to Determining Liability in Data Breach Cases “ highlights the complexity of this issue. Hackers target the weakest link along the chain of entities that protect customer data. Because the harm from data breaches falls to each party not just the party that failed to implement...

Part I of this series, “A shifting Legal Landscape” looked at the changing business environment and the need for secure data access. It then discussed the threats to client confidentiality that accompany such technological changes. Part II, “Protecting Client Confidentiality to Meet Ethical Obligations,” suggests a way you can protect yourself against these threats and...

People in charge of ensuring data privacy policies have an increasingly hard task. Your employees want to use mobile devices to access data. Data storage in the cloud is inexpensive and convenient. At the same time you want to keep customer and employee data secure and you face tough privacy laws. The conflicting issues directly affect your business. If competitors have...