Rincon India Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

Tag: files

  • Reblog: How Can an Audit Trail Help Law Firms Protect Client Interests?

    Sharing legal documentation can be a tricky, but vital, aspect of virtually any legal firm’s business. Legal firms need to deliver documents to clients, the courts, and other concerned parties in a timely manner. Their delivery methods must also take special care to avoid accidentally sharing information with unintended parties as to avoid an accidental breach of attorney-client privilege.

    In the past, when a legal firm needed to ensure proper delivery of documents to a specific party, they would typically hire a process server to physically hand deliver documents. This has typically been considered the best way to securely deliver documents and prove they were received by the intended party. The drawback of this method is that it can be time consuming and very costly, especially if the process server encounters difficulty delivering the documents.

    SHARING INFORMATION VIA EMAIL: DANGEROUS FOR EVERYONE

    For more routine document sharing, such as an attorney sharing court documents with a client or internally with other attorneys, many legal firms find themselves leaning on email and file sharing services. Email, as a rule, should never be used to share sensitive files of any kind. While emailing files is a quick way to share information, someone monitoring traffic in and out of a firm’s IT environment may be able to see the contents.

    The risk of information being accidentally emailed or shared with unintended parties is also a reason to avoid emailing sensitive files. To illustrate the point, according to the Australian government’s Notifiable Data Breaches Quarterly Statistics Report in May 2019, human error was in general, the cause of 31% of breaches in Australia; the second most common reason overall (the first being malicious or criminal attack at 61% of all breaches). The most common error made was sending personal information to the wrong recipient, accounting for 31% of all breaches caused by human error. The second most common error was unauthorized disclosure of information through an unintended release or publication (including online), which could include files inadvertently forwarded to an unintended party.

    Of the malicious and criminal attacks, 5% were caused by social engineering, including email-based executive fraud. All of these factors make sharing files via email an especially risky policy.

    SHARING INFORMATION VIA EMAIL: ESPECIALLY DANGEROUS FOR LAW FIRMS

    If these numbers weren’t daunting enough, the law sector-specific statistics are even worse. While the percentage of breaches caused by human error remains consistent (approximately 34% of legal sector breaches were caused by human error, versus 31% across all industries), 62.5% of those were caused by personal information being emailed to the wrong recipient. Add in the percentage of breaches through unauthorized disclosures, assuming the information was disclosed via email, and that brings the total to 75% of all breaches caused by human error.

    Put another way, during the first quarter of 2019, potentially up to 75% of Australian legal sector breaches caused by human error could have been prevented simply by avoiding the use of email.

    MOST FILE SHARING SERVICES AREN’T MUCH BETTER

    File sharing services may seem like an obvious solution; they are simple to set up and it’s easy to invite relevant parties to collaborate and share documents. The truth is, these types of services frequently lack adequate security (such as two-factor authentication) and retention policies. Additionally, if permissions are not properly set up, it may be possible for collaborators to invite others or share a direct link to the files with unintended parties. These services also often lack detailed auditing functionalities that can decisively prove documents were properly delivered to their intended recipient, nor do they record who actually accessed and downloaded files. What may be the most significant problem is the lack of retention policy controls. File sharing services frequently require files be manually deleted, which can lead to old files remaining in a shared folder well past when is necessary.

    FAX IS BETTER, BUT LIMITED

    Sending documents via fax remains a popular way to securely transfer documents as it is very difficult to intercept faxes in transit. There are a few drawbacks of using traditional fax solutions, however. One is that there can be a risk of unintended parties viewing the files, such as if there is one central, office-wide fax machine. Another is that fax can only support transferring printed documents (no audio or video) and may have constraints on the number of pages that can be faxed based on the memory of the machine receiving the fax (analog fax machines commonly have 64 MB of memory). There often will be a delivery confirmation feature with fax, but in the event the fax is being sent to an office-wide fax machine, there is no real way to tell who has actually looked at the document.

    BUT HOW CAN AN AUDIT TRAIL ACTUALLY HELP?

    A detailed audit trail can make a huge difference in protecting the sanctity of attorney-client privilege, ensuring the proper delivery of legal documents, and holding individuals accountable.

    The original article can be found here.

    E-mail us on sales@rincon.co.in and we will be glad to assist you.

  • Reblog: 7 Powerful Advantages of Using a Document Management System

    There are people who personally prefer chaotic work stations, insisting that chaos fuel their creativity. While that may be true, it hardly works in a business environment where people are usually equipped with the right productivity tools to do the right jobs. This article tackles the benefits of managing your business documents through document management software.

    It happens even to the best of us. A document gets misplaced, and you spend hours looking for it, to no avail. Then, your brother or sister, friend or colleague tells you in their most dismissive tone: “Quit looking for it. You’ll find it when it decides to finally show up.”

    And guess what, they almost always end up right. The moment you stop looking for the darn document, just when you already forget about it, you find it sitting innocently on a pile of other documents, on your night stand, or other places you thought you’ve already turned upside down but never actually had, as if enjoying every moment of the little hide-and-seek it obviously beat you at.

    Now, this is a situation you can have a good laugh about if immediately finding the said document isn’t a matter of life and death, or business-critical, one way or another. What if it’s that one document a team needs to get started on a stringently time-sensitive project? What if it’s something that can save a struggling company from costly litigation? Or a government-mandated shutdown, perhaps?

    This is where a document management system (DMS) becomes absolutely necessary.

    What exactly is a document management system?

    According to iDatix, “document management encompasses the processes and procedures your organization uses as it pertains to capturing, storing, securing and retrieving information on a daily basis,” a process that can be simplified through the use of document management software.

    Document management software makes it easy for businesses to combine paper and digital files into a single hub, as physical documents, including checks and business cards, are scanned and digital formats are imported. File formats supported can range from Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, PDF files, and so on.

    The basic components of document management software systems include:

    • Document storage
    • Check-in/check-out
    • Simultaneous editing coordination
    • Security and access control
    • Search and retrieval
    • Version control
    • Indexing and classification
    • Audit trails
    • Annotations

    It’s more than just going paperless

    Aside from helping keep trees upright to protect the environment from health and economic hazards such as pollution, landslides and flooding, employing a cloud-based document management software solution comes with a host of advantages.

    Below are seven of them:

    1. Document/file repository

    Cloud-based document management systems serve as a central repository for all your important documents that can subsequently be accessed, viewed, changed and shared with colleagues. No more wasting hours upon hours of precious time frantically looking through stacks of folders to find a single document.

    2. Document/content security

    When documents are not managed, the possibility of important information being exposed to the wrong people is considerable. Vital, sensitive information falling into the wrong hands can bring irreversible damage to a business. Document management software solutions let you safeguard confidential business information through rigorous security policies and role-based access control (RBAC) where authorized users alone are allowed to view certain files or documents.

    In the case of disasters like fire or flooding, cloud-based DMS ensures your business-critical data are kept intact, not wiped out from the face of the earth.

    3. Anytime, anywhere access

    As is the case with cloud-based software solutions, web-based DMS affords users the ability to access files and documents anywhere, anytime, regardless of device used, which is particularly handy when collaborating on projects with team members who are on the go or located remotely.

    4. Integration with third-party software

    App integration is a nifty capability that eliminates redundant data input and allows seamless information flow between disparate platforms. Not only does it save you time and effort, it maintains data integrity and accuracy as well. Some DMS even support email integration, affording you the ability to directly send files and documents to customers, colleagues, and vendor partners.

    5. Better organization

    With tags, categories, subcategories, and metadata to mark your files and documents, they become easier to organize, locate, and retrieve for future use. A search using the appropriate keywords can yield results in a matter of seconds.

    6. Time/cost efficiency

    Employee efficiency is a time-saver. Business-wise or otherwise, time saved is money saved. Add to that the fact that keeping and running a document management system can be done at absolutely no cost (for those with free options).

    7. File sharing

    With DMS, users get to share and collaborate on files and documents with colleagues, regardless of their location. They control who they share documents with, and files can be shared through links, published on the web or sent as password-protected files to third-party stakeholders. With the audit trail functionality, they know who has viewed or edited certain files or documents, also critical when unearthing process errors and inefficiencies.

    How about you ? Which document management system do you like to use ?

    The original article is written by Mamoun Chaouni and appears here.

    If you are considering implementing a document management system for your business, but you are still sitting on the fence when it comes to selecting the right solution, we encourage you to e-mail us on sales@rincon.co.in and we will be glad to assist you.