Cybersecurity has been a highly public issue for over a decade now, and experts say that the challenge of protecting communications and ensuring that third parties cannot intercept and misuse private emails and text messages will continue to be a pressing concern in 2023 and 2024, and for years to come.
High profile attacks on major companies and political campaigns are the ones that most frequently make the news, but cyber criminals are increasingly selling their tools to “enterprise hackers” who have no technical background. This has dramatically increased the number of attacks. For these enterprise hackers, stealing private information is a business, and most of their targets are small and medium sized businesses that have valuable information.
Law firms in particular should be deeply concerned about taking the necessary steps to protect their communications in the coming year. Here are some of the most pressing reasons for doing so.
Secure Communication is Essential for Trust Between Attorneys and Clients
The relationship between lawyers and their clients is one of trust, and nothing threatens that trust like a data breach, especially when it comes to highly sensitive cases. If clients cannot trust that their lawyer is taking the necessary precautions to protect their data, why should they share their information with them?
Firms of All Sizes are Vulnerable to Attack
It doesn’t matter whether you are a leading Bay Street firm with a staff of hundreds and millions of dollars worth of billings or a two-person partnership dealing with local business: cyber crime affects big and small alike. In a report about the impact of cyber crime on small businesses in 2017, USA Today reported that even police departments have been forced to pay up after being hit by ransomware attacks. The same piece noted that a staggering sixty percent of small businesses hit with a cyber attack go out of business within six months.
Most Standard Tools Cannot Provide Guaranteed End-to-End Security
Despite the risks, the overwhelming majority of small and medium sized businesses (as much as ninety percent, by some estimations) are not taking the necessary steps to protect their communications. This is in part because the only way to do this is through encryption, and good encryption tools require investment. If you want to keep your business conversations private the gold standard for contemporary cyber security solutions is the encrypted smartphone.
Smartphones using encryption software from providers like SecureCrypt are the only way to ensure secure end-to-end communications.
With SecureCrypt you have access to the most popular modern communication tools (Instant Messaging, voice calling, group chat, group calling, image messaging, file transfer, and voice messaging), and they are protected by our proprietary cutting-edge encryption protocol, which uses 512-bit ECC (Elliptical Curve Cryptography).
SecureCrypt also goes a step beyond most providers and protects the cellular network connection with our Global Secure SIM
And because SecureCrypt creates a seamless, easy-to-use interface that offers straightforward ways of generating new keys and interfacing with users SecureCrypt encrypted smartphones are the most user-friendly option on the market.
While experts have been raising alarms about the dangers of cyber attacks for years, an end-of-year report from Forbes argues that there is no end in sight — cyber criminals will likely be just as prolific in 2022 and 2023 as they were in years before. The only way to ensure your firm doesn’t number among their victims is by adopting the best new encryption tools today offered by SecureCrypt. You simply cannot afford to have yours or your clients personal information compromised.