Is Your Tech Disaster Plan Actionable?
Most law firms, at this point, have a tech disaster plan outlined. Or, at least, they should.
Due to the speed with which new tech gets released and adopted, any tech disaster plan should be reviewed regularly to ensure that it is both up to date and actionable. But this latter part is all too often ignored. Like a prenup, when a firm fails to comply with their own tech best practices that their disaster plan calls for or relies upon, a firm can't expect the plan to work when a tech disaster strikes.
Below, you can read about how to make sure your tech disaster plan is actually actionable.
Review With Every New Device
Whenever a new, non-standard (already accounted for), device is added to the network, you should ensure that your plan takes that device into consideration. You particularly want to be mindful of devices that can access the firm's file systems, wifi, intra-web (internal network), or computer systems.
Stick to the Plan
Does your disaster recovery plan call for daily or weekly backups? Regularly changing passwords? Running emergency drills? Is your tech-emergency contact's contact info up to date (and written down on a piece of paper somewhere)?
If you're not actually spending the time to do the things your plan specifically tells you to do to avoid tech disasters, then, well, you may not like the plan B option, which might involve having to pay ransomware hackers, buying new hardware, or, worse, having to recreate your form library and report to clients that their info was stolen in a data breach and that your work-product is unrecoverable.
Redundancy Is Important
If you don't use multi-factor authentication for as many logins as possible, and encryption, you're leaving easy security measures on the table. Like your calendar, your data and tech should have redundancies to ensure that if you do suffer some sort of tech disaster or breach, you'll increase the chances of catching it early or avoiding the worst of the consequences. For example, keeping an offline backup might be an inconvenient redundancy that requires manual action on your part, but even if that's just done weekly, the benefit could be immense if, or when, a tech disaster strikes.
Related Resources:
- FCC Forum on Future AI Communications (FindLaw's Technologist)
- Metacert Says 'Cryptonite' Can Protect Your Email From Phishing Links (FindLaw's Technologist)
- Did an Amazon Echo Record a Double Homicide? (FindLaw's Technologist)