Protecting client and company data in an increasingly open world

Part 5: Securing sensitive data in a high-risk environment

Welcome to the fifth instalment of our legal pain points blog series, where we address the telecoms challenges that are keeping lawyers up at night and propose the solutions to resolve these.

In this post, Juliette Lee, Enterprise Director at Adam Phones, a specialist in enterprise mobility for the legal sector, looks at how firms can be protected against the negative reputational risk that a data breach could cause, by ensuring firms have the appropriate mobile threat defence in place.

In the handling and processing of highly confidential information, legal firms are sensitive environments when it comes to data security. With more than a quarter of law firms now reporting the occurrence of a security breach, there has never been a more important time to equip companies with the tools they need to ensure data remains in the right hands.

Data security across the telecoms estate is a significant consideration. Traditionally, firms have turned towards Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) solutions to manage their devices, but tools such as these have little to any visibility of the data being processed within each asset.

While it remains important to secure the device, it’s just as critical to secure the data within it; whether this is through content filtering, mobile threat monitoring and defence, app restrictions or blocking rogue Wi-Fi hotspots. With mobile working on the rise amongst lawyers, it is important to have visibility and understanding of what data is being captured (or even lost) to best defend in the fight against data breaches or attack.

On 25th May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes in to play, applying to any business that is handling, storing or processing personally identifiable information associated to a resident of the UK, or Europe. Should this information be accessible to unauthorised entry (whether through a hack or via data leakage), the business in question will be held accountable and its reputation will be on the line.

With employees regularly accessing valuable customer data on the move via their mobile devices, it is imperative to invest in a security solution that enables full visibility and control – allowing companies to intercept any malicious or unauthorised access before the damage is done.

A threat defence solution that encompasses the ability to both detect an attack (scanning a device for instances of malware) and prevent an attack as much as possible (an interception layer that prevents insecure downloads taking place for example) must become a critical part of a law firm’s mobile policy. This will allow the business to gain the visibility required to make informed decisions about their exposure to risk and to be better informed of activities across the mobile suite.

By implementing proven mobile solutions that secure the device and its associated data, the firm is protected against the reputational (and often financial) risk that can result from a data breach.

To find out more about how you can tackle mobile threat defence (and help to manage your mobile costs), visit our dedicated ‘Wandera by Adam Phones’ page for more information.

Stay tuned or the final part of our legal pain point series, where we look at how to evaluate and deploy the right mobile technology for your business. For more information on how Adam Phones can help you address your telecoms challenges, contact us via www.adamphones.com