With cybersecurity threats and data breaches on the rise, it’s important for law firms to be cautious about how they’re sending and receiving confidential information. Attorneys and support staff should avoid using outdated file sharing methods that are inefficient and offer little to no protection for the information being shared.
Below you’ll find some of the worst to share files at your law firm and why you should avoid them:
1. Email
While emails may be the most convenient way of sending and receiving information, emails do not offer any consistent form of protection for the messages and attachments being shared. Hackers can potentially intercept an email while it’s in transit and gain access to the confidential information.
Emails also have a 20 to 25 megabyte attachment limit, making it difficult to share large files without compressing them or breaking them up into separate emails.
Summary:
- Does not encrypt information
- Does not support large file transfer
- Can be intercepted in transit
- Delivery isn’t always guaranteed
2. Letter Mail
Shipping packages of documents can be quite expensive to ship and laborious to prepare. While the package is in transit, it could get lost in the mail or shipped to the wrong address by accident. You’ll never know who will end up with your confidential information.
Courier delays may also cause frustration to both parties, especially since cases are time-sensitive.
Summary:
- Expensive, and consumes a lot of resources (paper, ink)
- Takes longer to deliver files
- Potential mail delivery delays
- Can get lost during delivery
3. DVDs
Due to disc writing times and shipping, DVDs are one of the most inconvenient and expensive ways to share information. While DVDs may be cheap, shipping costs aren’t.
In terms of security, unless you encrypt files or password-protect them before burning them to the disc, the DVD won’t protect any files being stored. This could be a problem if the DVD was accidentally delivered to the wrong destination.
Summary:
- Time-consuming to burn files to a disc
- Expensive to ship
- No protection for files stored
4. Flash Drives (USB sticks)
Can you recall how many flash drives you’ve replaced in your lifetime?
Since flash drives are physically small devices, it’s very common for them to be misplaced or accidentally left inside a public computer. If that happens, an unauthorized individual may find the flash drive and gain access to the information.
USB sticks can also be physically damaged or corrupted which may cause some inconvenience.
Summary:
- Can be easily misplaced or left on a public computer
- Can be physically damaged or corrupted
- Expensive
5. Portable Hard Drives
Portable hard drives are generally expensive, which results in additional costs being incurred by the firm or the recipient. Since the device is too big for an envelope, parcel shipping costs also apply.
Although hard drives can be encrypted to protect stored information, the encryption process can be quite time-consuming depending on the volume of files stored and the encryption method being used.
And just like flash drives, portable hard drives can also be physically damaged or corrupted.
Summary:
- Inconvenient to share files back and forth
- Encryption is time-consuming to set up
- Can be physically damaged or corrupted
- Very expensive
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How should you share files instead?
As a modern-day approach, many law firms have adopted a cloud-based secure file-sharing service to both send and receive information. This enables a file-sharing process that’s quicker, easier, more accessible, and more secure.
Learn more about TitanFile’s secure file-sharing solution and how it helps law firms improve file-sharing across all practice areas.