CloudHQ is one of the most popular data replication services, and many small businesses and professionals use cloudHQ for consolidation, collaboration and backup. It may sound complicated, but actually cloudHQ is VERY simple to use, and it's completely automated, so you can simply set it and forget it, and cloudHQ handles the rest. But what exactly does cloudHQ do? And how can cloudHQ help us lawyers be more efficient?

We've covered Bring your own Device (BYOD) for legal professionals several times in this blog- how to implement a BYOD program, how to secure the mobile devices, how to minimize risks of information security breaches in the cloud, and much more. But what does the future hold for BYOD in the legal profession? The increase of successful cloud-based attacks is a red-flag alert for lawyers who deal with sensitive information on a daily basis. A recent survey of legal counsel from Fortune 1,000 companies showed that BYOD will be the #1 e-discovery challenge for lawyers in 2014. So what will 2014 hold for BYOD, in and out of the courtroom?

If you are a lawyer that has interest in technology, you no doubt have heard of Software as a Service (SaaS) in the cloud. Many lawyers already use SaaS in the cloud,  and you probably already do in some form as well. Many lawyers that use SaaS are wary (and rightfully so) about a number of issues and challenges including security, cost, data backup and recovery and other possible disasters that could happen in the cloud. In this article, we will take a look at what SaaS is, how it is used in the courtroom and law firm and how to prevent any cloud disasters associated with SaaS from happening to you.

Software as a Service apps are quickly becoming more popular in the courtroom and law firms everywhere. A SaaS app is software that is based in the cloud, so it performs the same functions as software installed on your computer, but you can access it from any device that has internet access instead of having to install software on all of your devices.

Some of the most popular SaaS apps that are used in law firms today are:

• Evernote: Used for taking notes, snapping photos, clipping web articles, audio clips and much more.
  

• Google Apps: This powerful document management suite allows lawyers to quickly create, edit, delete, share, sign and save documents, spreadsheets and presentations from any mobile device or computer that has internet access.
  

• Dropbox: The most popular cloud storage provider, offering free space, unlimited size file sharing, simple file sharing, strong encryption and security measures. 
  

• Box: Similar to Dropbox, it offers free space, but does have file size limits. It also offers the strongest security measures as it is HIPAA and HITECH compliant.
  

• Microsoft SkyDrive: Microsoft's cloud storage. If you have Windows 8, you are no doubt familiar with SkyDrive as much of the storage and apps are stored in the cloud on SkyDrive.
  

• Basecamp: That's right, the premier project management tool in the world is SaaS. Based in the cloud, Basecamp provides lawyers with all the tools they need to successfully manage cases and other projects from any location with internet access.
  

Well, there is good news and bad news. The bad news first: 1 out of 3 Companies Lose Data in SaaS. Okay, so now you're thinking that SaaS is not secure, right? Wrong. The sad fact is- human error still accounts for the number one reason for data loss in the cloud. And unfortunately, security cannot predict human error and therefore it is very hard to guard against it. But there is one cloud service that stands against human error, human stupidity and even purposeful malicious human deletion. This cloud service is cloudHQ. 

The cloudHQ backup and replication service works by providing a complete backup of all of your cloud data to a backup account on a completely separate cloud service. So if your law firm uses Dropbox for all of your cloud storage needs, the backup account could be on a separate cloud service such as Google Drive or Box. You choose which folders and files you wish to have backed up and cloudHQ does the rest. All new files added to the shared folders in the main account will be instantly replicated to the backup account. So now if you or your legal aide or anyone else with access to the cloud account accidentally (or purposely) deletes files or important documents, there will always be a secondary copy of all of your files and documents on the backup account. Recovering files is quick and easy and only takes minutes. Most cloud services offer file recovery, but only for short periods up to 30 days. After that period of time, your data is gone forever, unless you have a secure backup system like cloudHQ. Human error is prevalent and is still the number one cause of data loss in the cloud, but with cloudHQ, you can combat human error and defeat it easily.

• SaaS Litmus Test | How to Pick a SaaS Solution | Domo | Blog (domo.com)
• Identify, Acquire and Master the Technology that Will Drive Your Small Business (staples.com)
• First Ever Cloud "SaaS Enablement as a Service" for Rapid Cloud On-boarding of Software Applications by NephoScale Cloud Computing and Corent Technology (prweb.com)
• SoftServe Launches SaaS Tenant Analyzer, a Solution for Predicting Subscriber Behavior (virtual-strategy.com)
• SaaS-based Commercial Fleet Telematics Units will Increase from 1.06 Million in 2012 to 16.8 Million by 2018, Forecasts ABI Research (hispanicbusiness.com)
• Sql saturday199 cloud_stakeholders (slideshare.net)
• Enterprise software vendors face deflation: Advantage SaaS (zdnet.com)

Dropbox and Box are two of the most commonly-used cloud storage providers among law firms everywhere. Many lawyers use Box storage because of security and ethics requirements, and Box is both HIPAA and HITECH compliant. Dropbox has strict security as well, and while it can be used in a manner that is HIPAA compliant, it is not HIPAA certified. Still, because of the extremely beneficial sharing and storage features, lawyers continue to use both Dropbox and Box. It should be noted that Dropbox uses SSL encryption during file transfer and strong AES-256 bit encryption during file storage while Box uses access and permissions control to ensure that only the intended recipient is able to access the file in any readable format.

Lawyers that store data in the cloud have found a new level of accessibility. The data can be accessed from their home computer, office computer, laptop, smartphone or tablet. However, what if something happens to the cloud account servers? If they go offline for maintenance or DDoS attack while you are in court or an important meeting, this could be trouble. But if you have a backup on the other cloud server, odds are very much against both cloud services being down at the same time. So you can just switch to the other account and continue your presentation.

Lawyers deal with confidential client data and sensitive firm data on a daily basis. Much of this information is essential to the outcome of cases and if you store contracts and other legal documents, it can be disastrous if data loss were to wipe out some or all of these files. If a hacker is able to gain unauthorized access to your cloud account, he may just delete random files for the fun of it. He could wipe out the entire account. If you have a legal aide or other employee that you recently had to fire or discipline, and they have access to the cloud account, they could decide to get revenge by deleting files and documents.

Some clients have been wrongly accused of violating the cloud service's ToS. Sometimes the data has even been unrecoverable. Even if the account is restored, it can take days or weeks. During this time you will not have access to your data. But if you have a secondary copy of your data in a backup account, you can simply switch to that account and continue working uninterrupted until the issues with the main account are worked out.

Replicating your data from Box to Dropbox (and vice-versa) is a simple task with cloudHQ. The cloudHQ service runs in the background and automatically backs up your work as it's performed. So if you have a main cloud account on Box and a backup cloud account on Dropbox, your files will be automatically replicated as they are added. All new files you add to the shared folder in Box will instantly appear in Dropbox. Any revisions to existing files in Box will instantly be replicated to Dropbox. If you choose to have the replication two-way, any changes made in Dropbox will replicate in Box and any changes made in Box will replicate to Dropbox. However, if you are using the secondary cloud service as a backup in case an incident occurs, this is not recommended.

Once you have the replication set up through cloudHQ, disaster can strike and you will be completely protected from any data loss because you have a complete secondary copy of all of your files and documents. Restoration is quick so there is minimal interruption even if all of your data gets completely wiped out.

Related articles

• Top 5 Tips For Cloud Security (cloudhq.net)
• Does BYOD Create A More Productive Worker? (cloudhq.net)
• Can More Than One Person Work on a Document in Dropbox? (smallbusiness.chron.com)
• Dropbox and Similar Services Can Sync Malware (technologyreview.com)
• Dropbox Cloud Storage Platform Hacked? Not So Fast (eweek.com)
• Online vs. offline storage – which is better? (dynamicbusiness.com.au)
• Skiva Technologies, Inc. - Consumers Investing in Up and Coming Technologies (prweb.com)
• Dropbox details its shift from consumer file storage to enterprise data hub (venturebeat.com)
• Connected but private: Transporter aims to be your off-cloud Dropbox (reviews.cnet.com)
• The Future of the Cloud (business2community.com)

This week, the mobile lawyer is looking at BYOD practices in the law firm. BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) is the process of allowing employees to use their own mobile devices to access the law firm company data and perform work using law firm information. This has been a particularly interesting topic as the ethics lawyers use can sometimes conflict with BYOD use.

If you have a legal aide who performs work on their smartphone or tablet, it must be completely secured. Confidential client data must be held under the strictest security measures. Some lawyers have allowed their IT professionals to monitor the use of BYOD. This way, they can track the information being used over the mobile device and can determine if there are any active threats or breaches of security.

The problem with this is that not too many workers want their mobile device usage tracked and monitored, even though it's by a security group. This has forced many of these workers to buy a second phone and use one for work and one for personal use. The newest smartphones are trying to alleviate that problem, such as the Samsung Galaxy S4. It has Knox security features that secure all data, encrypt it and keep it confidential. It even divides the phone into two separate sections- one for personal use and one for work use. This allows users to keep work and personal separate from each other.

As smartphones and other mobile devices gain more security measures, we will likely see an increase in BYOD activities in the law firm. The possibility of security breaches or information leaks, either intentional or accidental, is still a problem that must be dealt with. For this reason, law firms that wish to use BYOD should either have IT monitor the phones or ensure that security on these phones can satisfy ethics requirements.

Related articles

• Dont let a BYOD policy create an OMG moment for your small firm (hiscox.co.uk)
• Employees Fret Over BYOD-Related Privacy Issues (misco.co.uk)
• New Research Study: BYOD Threat is Not Addressed (quatrashield.com)
• Mobile boom turns BYOD into unmanaged risk (techcentral.ie)
• Smart Watches, Phablets Mean More Risk Exposures for Businesses with... (prweb.com)
• Has BYOD Knocked Enterprise Regulatory Compliance Back to the Stone Age? (community.csc.com)
• CIO's 10 BYOD Worker Types - It Takes All Kinds (community.spiceworks.com)
• Uefa considers BYOD policy for Euro 2016 (computerweekly.com)
• Acceptable risk (computerworld.co.nz)
• BlackBerry 10 - Mobile Security in an enterprise BYOD environment (mobinidhi.wordpress.com)

Law firms have joined in the app movement, and some large and well-known firms have begun creating apps for clients and other users seeking legal information. The law firm Latham & Watkins has created a variety of apps and their latest release, AB&C Laws, informs users of anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws and offers a variety of features for users to learn from. They also have a previous app series release called Books of Jargon which informs users of the law practice terminology, and they have been used by a variety of users such as law school students, journalists, clients and even other law firms.

Most of the law firm apps are simply recreations of content and activities on their website. Even these apps are great marketing tools are extremely efficient for exposure. Another law firm, O'Melveny & Myers, developed an app over the course of a year which provides users with information about the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. 

The law firm Baker and McKenzie has released an app specially designed for companies that wish to offer employee stock options. This app helps the companies with tax and other legal issues. Stroz Friedberg created an app called the Navigator, which provides answers for clients that have compliance questions. The Sourcing Deal Tool Kit, which was created by Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, can help users determine costs in outsourcing contracts and also helps calculate performance metrics.

As apps continue to increase in popularity, more law firms are joining in the movement. Creative ideas give way to apps that are effective at helping lawyers and clients perform better and become more knowledgeable. We can fully expect to see more apps created by law firms as mobile is expected to overtake desktop computer use within the next couple of years. Tablets are already appearing in courtrooms more frequently and law firms are sure to start creating apps that will help them perform their courtroom practice in a more efficient manner in the near future.

Related articles

• Apps Educating Consumer about Law: Latham & Watkins doing good, in hopes of doing well (lawandmore.typepad.com)
• O'Melveny & Myers Hires 3 Senior Bankruptcy Lawyers (dealbook.nytimes.com)
• TopSites Law Releases 4 Development Tips for Effective Mobile Law Firm Sites (prweb.com)
• Lung Cancer Asbestos Victims Center Urges Families To Call Them For The Names Of The Most Skilled Law Firms For A Victim Of Mesothelioma Or Asbestos Related Lung Cancers (prweb.com)
• Tallahassee Personal Injury Lawyer Services Announced by The Berman Law Firm (prweb.com)
• A look at Houston's health care law firms by the numbers (bizjournals.com)
• Round-up: Law Firm Leadership Changes in Washington (legaltimes.typepad.com)
• Practice Management Advice: Future-Proofing Your Law Firm |LPM Section| Jim Calloway (lennyesq.wordpress.com)
• Start-Up Looks to Make Law Firm Billing More Transparent (dealbook.nytimes.com)
• Practice Management Advice: Future-Proofing Your Law Firm |LPM Section| Jim Calloway (nysbar.com)

Evernote: Evernote is fastly becoming one of the most popular apps and hosts an array of useful features for individuals and companies. The mobile app allows users to quickly take notes, take snapshots, record audio files such as voice reminders and create documents such as to-do lists. It is also compatible with Evernote Business which allows users to capture, share, search and browse Business Notes and Business Notebooks directly from their mobile device.

All data stored in Evernote is automatically synced to all devices that have Evernote installed on them, so the notes and files you create on your smartphone will instantly be available on your tablet, desktop computer or laptop.

Evernote has an extremely useful tagging feature which allows for easy searching of notes, photos and other files. Then there are not-so-conventional features such as the ability to search for text within images and the ability to send emails and save tweets to Evernote.

The Web Clipper is an extremely useful tool that allows users to save web articles, clippings, photos, recipes and more to Evernote.

Dropbox: Dropbox is one of the most popular cloud storage services. It allows users to store photos, documents, videos and other files and access them on any device. It features continuous and automatic syncing between devices so you always have the same files on all devices as you update them. Even if your phone is lost or stolen, your data will still be available on any other devices that you have Dropbox on, the Dropbox website, and, as soon as you install Dropbox on your new phone, all your data will be available as soon as it syncs with the website.

Dropbox uses SSL, encryption and has additional authentication such as two-factor authentication that helps keep your data secure.

Dropbox has many useful features and allows users to edit documents while they are stored in Dropbox, email attachments can be saved directly to Dropbox and the sharing features are nothing short of amazing. A simple drag-and-drop file system allows users to instantly share files with other users simply by using their email address.

Google Drive: Google Drive is much more than just cloud storage provider. It also utilizes the powerful document suite of Google Docs which allows documents to be created, edited and stored. These documents can be accessed offline as well. PDFs, Microsoft Office documents and presentations can be viewed, spreadsheets can be viewed and edited, and all of these can be stored on Google Drive. This makes it simple to manage documents on the go as files can be uploaded directly from your android smartphone.

Files can be uploaded and converted to Google Docs format while documents can be downloaded in other formats including Microsoft Office. One interesting feature is the ability to take photos of printed text and then convert it to Google Docs format. Google Docs presentations can be viewed with speaker notes as well as full animations. Also, all documents can be printed directly from your smartphone by using Google Cloud Print.

Capsule CRM: Capsule is simple and flexible- the perfect CRM for small sales teams and businesses. It works in conjunction with Google Apps to provide a host of useful services. Capsule CRM allows users to easily maintain contacts and customers, as well as potential sales. To manage contacts, Capsule offers a business address book.

Google Apps already offers an entire suite of useful programs but Capsule provides a few extra features that fill in the gaps. Not only can Capsule be used with Google Apps but it also works with FreshBooks, Xero, FreeAgent and KashFlow. It can also be used directly from Google Apps navigation, there's no need for separate logins.

WordPress: The most popular blogging platform is available directly from your smartphone or tablet, complete with a dashboard for all your blogging needs. Add new posts, edit existing posts, upload images and moderate comments all from your device. From the menu, multiple blogs can be managed and when you exit the app, the last selection you make in the menu is saved so you can start right back where you left off.

Related articles

• Dropbox Vs. Google Drive: Which Cloud Storage Service Is Better? (businessinsider.com)
• Dropbox Vs. Google Drive: Which Cloud Storage Service Is Better? (GOOG) (embargozone.com)
• Gmail, Google Drive And Docs Currently Experiencing Partial Outage (techcrunch.com)
• Google Drive downtime issue UPDATE: Resolved (slashgear.com)
• Dropbox and Harnessing Collective Intelligence (lauratracymaclean.wordpress.com)
• The Best Ways to Share Information throughout Your Agency (insurancefiles.com)
• Online file storage systems (ksin103.wordpress.com)
• What is Google Drive? (teksocial.com)
• Adding Files to your Boxes using Google Drive (streak.com)
• Google Mail, Drive, Docs and Other Services Are Down For Many (gizmodo.com)

Every lawyer must have a current smartphone in order to keep up with the times. There are many factors to consider when choosing the right smartphone including features, reading the fine print, apps and more. Choosing the right phone can be daunting task. One way is to see which phones your colleagues use and find out if they are happy with their phone and how useful it is to them. The other option is weigh the pros and cons of phones by checking the stats, features and reviews online.

Don't go cheap when browsing available phones and plans. A 2-year contract that locks you in with an older phone such as iPhone 4 also locks you into slower speed network as the iPhone 4 works on 3G while the iPhone 5 works on 4G networks.

If you travel internationally, check your phone to make sure that the phone is able to be used overseas. Of course you can purchase a temporary phone that can be used just for travels but it would be much more efficient to have access to apps, contacts and data that are stored on your existing phone.

Check the phone's security options and activate as many as possible. A strong passcode that cannot be easily guessed should be used along with any available encryption. There are some apps such as BoxCryptor that can increase security for your phone.

Utilize backup of your data on a service like Dropbox, Box, SkyDrive, etc. For an even more secure backup, a cloud backup and replication service like cloudHQ can come in useful. It provides a continuous replication of all data from your main cloud account like Dropbox to a secondary backup account like Box or SkyDrive. This ensures that if any data from your original account becomes corrupted, accidentally deleted or misplaced, or if your phone gets lost or stolen, the data remains secure in the secondary account. This way, if you have important documents or files stored in the cloud storage, cloudHQ keeps it safe and secure.

Related articles

• Space Monkey takes on Dropbox with clever $10/month 1TB backup hardware (venturebeat.com)
• SugarSync - Seamlessly Sync Your Files Across Multiple Devices [iOS] (makeuseof.com)
• Online vs. offline storage – which is better? (dynamicbusiness.com.au)
• Your Very Own Cloud Support by Cloud Storage and Backup (jtn-network.com)
• 21 Hidden iPhone 5 Features (gottabemobile.com)
• Data Backup: Cloud Computing vs. On-Site Options (staples.com)
• Novosoft Introduces Next-Gen Cloud Storage, HBDrive (virtual-strategy.com)
• 12 Ways to Get the Most Out of Apple's iCloud (entrepreneur.com)
• Top 5 Cloud Storage Apps for iPhone - Download it now (mirolta.com)
• Acronis Delivers A Cloud and Local Storage Backup Hybrid For Small Businesses (smallbiztechnology.com)

The mobile lawyer is nothing new; however, it is gaining more popularity and acceptance in the courtroom. No longer is it an uncommon sight to see lawyers (and sometimes judges) with iPads or other tablets. The problem that can arise from this is that lawyers rarely work alone. Receptionists, legal aides, clients, informants and other sources all have their roles to play in the informational process.

There are several rules that should be implemented when going mobile in the law firm, no matter if the law firm only has a few lawyers or hundreds. This requires thorough communication between the firm's IT department, lawyers and employees.

Policies must be created that clearly point to data security each and every time that a mobile device is used to access firm information.

All mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, etc.) that will be accessing confidential data should be checked to ensure that the devices can meet the security standards such as automatic encryption, virus scanning and secure authentication.

The IT department should have the permission and ability to monitor the mobile devices to determine if there are security vulnerabilities that could lead to breaches, to determine if malware is downloaded onto the device and to determine the user is connecting to unsecured Wi-Fi connections.

All users should be properly trained on the correct use of mobile devices. This should include the process for securely accessing confidential data and what steps should be taken to protect the data, methods for creating strong passwords that cannot be easily guessed or hacked, and the steps to take if a mobile device is lost or stolen.

Knowledge and communication are the keys to keeping data safe in a BYOD environment. Ignorance and carelessness can be the cause of failure. The BYOD movement appears to be here to stay; it should be embraced by law firms, but only with the correct security protocols and measures in place to protect confidential data in the cloud.

Related articles

• Employees Fret Over BYOD-Related Privacy Issues (misco.co.uk)
• BYOD brings a rethink to IT (blogs.blouinnews.com)
• BYOD And Enterprise Mobility Market To Grow By 15% Annually Until 2017 (misco.co.uk)
• Shedding Light on Growing BYOD Trend - Bringing Your Own Device to Work (business2community.com)
• BYOD Risks & Rewards (untangle.com)
• Is there a BYOD escape clause at your company? (zdnet.com)
• Is BYOD helping or hurting your company's productivty? (venturebeat.com)
• Allowing employees use personal IT devices requires strict guidelines (independent.ie)
• Enterprise App Stores Help Users and IT Get the Most from BYOD (eweek.com)
• BYOD: 10 Reasons why it WILL work in your business: (thebyodblog.com)

Storing data in the cloud has many benefits but it can cause some concern as well, especially when confidential data is being stored. We have all heard of the incidents with Amazon S3, Evernote, and other companies that have relations with the cloud. These incidents have shown that even the companies with the best security measures around are not completely invulnerable to security breaches. So what exactly does that mean for those of us that store data on cloud storage servers? How secure are the files that we store in the cloud? There are many businesses and individual users that use Amazon S3 to store data, some of it confidential and sensitive data.

Amazon tells its users how to protect their data that is stored on Amazon's servers, then it allows the user to decide how they want to best protect the data, which data (if any) should be open to the public and which data should remain secure and private. But a recent study showed that many businesses leave sensitive data on public clouds, which further escalates the risk of the data falling into the wrong hands.

It's an all too familiar scenario- people giving up security in the name of convenience. Careless actions such as this can cost a company everything. The number one cause of security breaches is because of user error. Either security protocols were ignored or bypassed in the name of convenience, additional security measures such as two-factor authentication are not implemented because of convenience or ignorance, or passwords are created to be something simple and easy to use, which makes them easy to guess as well.

Data loss is another issue that can occur if a hacker is able to successfully compromise an account. While it's true that just the security breach is bad enough, a hacker still must have knowledge of what to do with the information and data stored in the account. If the hackers are unable to use the data for financial gain, they may just quietly slip away and leave the data undisturbed, or they may delete it just for fun or spite. This can be extremely devastating to a company that depends on that data for its everyday activities and transactions. In this instance, it would be very wise to have a cloud backup solution, such as cloudHQ. The cloudHQ cloud backup solution provides continuous replication of all data to a backup cloud account, usually through another cloud storage provider. For instance, if your company uses Google Drive for data storage, document creation, and collaboration on files with employees or clients, a backup account may be created through another cloud storage provider, such as Dropbox or Box. The cloudHQ service will continually monitor Google Drive for changes and any updates are automatically replicated to the backup cloud account. This ensures that you always have a secondary copy of all your data and don't have to worry about scheduled or manual backups like some other backup companies and programs offer.

Related articles

• Cloudfinder Launches CRM Backup for Salesforce (prweb.com)
• Online vs. offline storage – which is better? (dynamicbusiness.com.au)
• Data Backup: Cloud Computing vs. On-Site Options (staples.com)
• Cloud Storage Company Helps Customers Celebrate Earth Month, Every Month (prweb.com)
• Cloud Storage and Backup (christoskelton.wordpress.com)
• Despite risk, more SMBs consider cloud backup (zdnet.com)
• SMBs should realize the benefits of cloud backup (storagecraft.com)
• Cloud-based backup: Is it right for long-term storage? (pcworld.com)
• DollyDrive Gives Free Storage, Sync & Backup for Mac for a Limited Time (themactrack.com)