In the Powerpoint presentation included in this week's Resources, I present some additional material on data safety and security.

When I created this PPT a few years ago, how could I know that in 2016 Russia would hack the DNC or Home Depot, Target, Anthem among many other major American companies would be hacked by experts, amateurs, military units and [possibly] countries. The US and Israel have even been implicated in the Stuxnet attack on Iranian centrifuges as reported on PBS. Fox News reported cyber attacks on small business were on the rise in this story from last April.

I receive regular updates from the FBI about cyber threats. See this and this.

These threats have become more sophisticated and dangerous and the future will surely see more of the same.

Despite these well publicized attacks which compromise millions of Social Security numbers, credit card data and other personal information, the greatest threats to data security are probably a class of Malware called Ransomware...typified by Cryptolocker and its ilk. Its authors have made millions of dollars. I've seen this malware infect over a dozen law firms and financial institutions which lost gigabytes of files to an encryption process that leaves files in place, but inaccessible, unless you purchase the decryption codes (via Bitcoin) from anonymous criminals on the other side of the planet.

As a legal professional entrusted with the protection of confidential information your only reasonable defense is constant diligence. Keep your programs and computer updated, employ a 'belts and suspenders' approach to anti-virus and malware protection software and stay alert to phishing attacks that invite you to click on links that may appear legitimate but which silently download malware and can cause a VBD (Very Bad Day.) (Here is a good article from Lifehacker that describes how to detect phishing attacks.)

Kim has been involved with security audits for banks. You'll notice the 'Cybersecurity Document Request' which took some time to complete. Although not specifically designed for law firms, collecting this inventory of information is helpful to 'map the security terrain' for any business.

Although security is hardly for dummies, you may find the free copy of Integrated Threat Management for Dummies from IBM interesting.

Finally, as described in the PPT presentation, there are three threats to your data - and the most significant one is Acts of Stupidity. That threat is the most predictable :)