Ransomware and other online attacks have been in the news recently, from shutting down the Colonial Penn pipeline to schools, hospitals, and a meat processing company. FBI Director Christopher Wray has asked victims not to pay ransoms. But the cybercriminals now have a new threat. If the ransom is not paid, in addition to not
Client Portals: A Must-Have Service for Today’s Law Firms
Recently Attorney at Work published my feature Client Portals: A Must-Have Service for Today’s Law Firms. After I covered this subject at virtual ABA TECHSHOW 2021, they reached out to me to write this feature. If you have not yet read it, I strongly encourage you to do so today. The benefits of providing
Closing an Oklahoma Law Practice
Author’s Note: We have, unsurprisingly, heard from more lawyers than usual the previous year about closing a law practice. This post originally appeared as my Law PracticeTips 
column in the May, 2021 Oklahoma Bar Journal. It will be hosted on our new Closing Your Law Practice page on the OBA Management Assistance Program website, which
The Rise of Two-Factor Authentication and the Authenticators
Many media outlets covered the plight of Stefan Thomas, the man who, as of January 2021, had $250 million worth of bitcoin trapped in his Bitcoin wallet. He secured the keys to the wallet on an IronKey flash drive. I recall in one 60 tips presentation years ago noting the Mission Impossible feature of the
Dodging Microsoft Tech Support Phone Scams
That helpful person calling from Microsoft Tech Support is most likely a scammer. The odds go up to 100% if they tell you they noticed a problem with your computer and are calling to help you fix it. You can easily test that premise by telling them they have just reached an FBI agent and
Securely Wiping Data from Your Computer, Phone or Tablet
Lawyers deal with confidential client information and we have a duty to secure that information. No matter who you are, you wouldn’t want to donate, give away or even discard a computer or phone with information still on the device. No one would want to transfer a computer or phone without making certain the personal
Gmail Ran Out of Storage! Not Your Gmail, All Gmail! What Action to Take Now That It Is Fixed. (December 23, 2020)
The idea that Google would run out of storage for its many premium services is unbelievable. Google did not run out of storage, but a misconfiguration which limited storage access did knock out many services from the Gmail app to YouTube offline for about 45 minutes. My colleague Sharon Nelson covered all of the important
Is Windows Defender Good Enough to Protect Your PC by Itself? (December 11, 2020)
You do not want to pay for something you don’t need. But lawyers have to have good data security. So, Is Windows Defender Good Enough to Protect Your PC by Itself? This feature in PC Mag has some positive comments. You may want to read the comments to get a broader group of opinions. But
Home Wi-Fi Security Tips – 5 Things to Check (December 3, 2020)
Whether it is working from home on confidential client matters or doing online shopping with your credit card for the holidays, today’s home WiFi Networks need to be secure. So, from Naked Security here some important things you can check, or do, without too much effort: Home Wi-Fi security tips – 5 things to check
Cybersecurity for Attorneys: The Ethics of Incident Response (December 1, 2020)
American Bar Association Formal Opinion 477R (May 2017), …. describes the current threat environment: “Cybersecurity recognizes a … world where law enforcement discusses hacking and data loss in terms of ‘when,’ and not ‘if’…” a company (or law firm) will be breached.
The above sentence is from Cybersecurity for Attorneys: The Ethics of Incident Response