As of 2023, the average consolidated cost of a data breach in the U.S. is $5.9 million.  However, the reputation impact of a data breach on a law firm — its most valuable asset — also represents a matter of critical importance to the firm.

Legal and ethical obligations require law firms to provide data security for their information and that of their clients. Further, federal laws impose obligations on law firms to protect certain categories of information in their possession, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act  (HIPAA) of 1996, the Fair and Accurate credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA), the Gramm-Bleach-Bliley Act (GLBA) and others.

Law firms also must protect personally identifying information in their possession, including SSNs, drivers’ licenses, account numbers and health information. Security requirements include:

• Encryption of all transmitted records and files containing personal information that will travel across public networks, and encryption of all data containing personal information to be transmitted wirelessly; and
• Encryption of all personal information stored on laptops or other portable devices.

Most bar associations have published opinions on the ethics of cloud computing, including the question of whether a law firm’s cloud provides reasonable assurance that the data could be protected.

Data protection and disaster recovery is critically important to the legal profession. Attorneys need instant access to facts and figures for oral arguments. If their IT can’t guarantee access to data because of the unreliable backup and recovery of virtualized applications and data, the outcome can be detrimental to attorneys and their clients.

EDSI and Veeam team to provide backup and replication services that allow law firms to verify the recoverability of backups. Through Veeam, the firm has access to instant recovery and the ability to test upgrades in an isolated environment before putting them in production.

To learn more about how EDSI Veeam Extreme backup and recovery services meet the special needs of the legal profession, please fill out the form below, or give us a call us at (866) 302-EDSI (866.302.3374).