President's Message

Disaster recovery plans critical for firms to navigate sudden disruptions

TIM WHITE, PRESIDENT

Among the many upheavals and disruptions caused by emergency situations, disasters such as fires or pandemics can force us to change the way we run our firms.

Whilst at the time these adjustments are stressful and difficult to deal with, many of the outcomes that occur are beneficial longer term to the business and the individuals working in it.

It does however require us to be open to learning new skills, often technology based, and being adaptive to how we perform our work.

With the COVID pandemic many of us continue to work from home, at least for some days of the week. Remote access to client documents and office data is now taken for granted and almost the norm. How secure then is your home computer or your remote devices to a cyber attack?

The frequency and impact of cyber attacks on businesses continues to grow exponentially each year. It has been reported that cybercrime will cost the global economy $6 trillion per year by 2021.

Cyber security should be a core focus and expenditure in your business to protect your clients and your own interests. A useful Riskwatch article was published in the February Bulletin relating to strategies you should adopt to minimise your risks. It might be a good time to re-visit this.

A Legal Technology Conference the Law Society is running on the 17th September promises to provide a fascinating and informative insight into the use of technology to enable firms to work more productively and securely. One of the presenters is Tim Cummins, from the UK, who is talking on the use of blockchain in the law. It will be fascinating to hear his views on the use of blockchain with contracts and in other commercial enterprises.

The issue of cyber security will not be new to practitioners, but it is one that is not going away -indeed, reports are that in the 2020 world of COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions the cyber fraudsters are upping their game and are more active than ever.

Conscious of this, the Society is making available to practitioners insured with the SA Professional Indemnity Insurance Scheme a suite of useful documents (licensed from Lexon in Queensland). These documents -“8 steps to enhance your cyber- security while working remotely”, “Cyber offrisk email”, “Cyber Alert Funds transfer critical information”, “Cyber- Security 101-More than just the device you’re using”. “Key System Controls”, “CyberSecurity-IT Systems Checklist”, “Where to deploy MFA” and “Assessing risks with Electronic Service Providers becoming Agents” will be launched at the Society’s Legal Technology Conference, and will be available on the Society’s website.

Practitioners and practice manager are strongly encouraged to read these materials, and we trust they will be extremely helpful for practices to ensure their practice is as cyber safe as possible.

Thus far in South Australia we have been fortunate with being able to access our workplaces with few restrictions. Would you be able to run your practice effectively if the current restrictions in Victoria applied here? With the stage 4 restrictions applying in greater Melbourne many solicitors cannot access their offices. There exist some rare exceptions where personal attendance is allowed such as attending an urgent or priority court hearing, or you are attending to a matter that cannot reasonably be undertake by remote communication, and the matter cannot be postponed.

Stories of lawyers being required to attend court but without being permitted to access documents from their office have become common place in Victoria. Those lawyers that use electronic files and have remote access continue to be able to advice and act for their clients with little interruption. Those requiring access to their office and the hard copy file are essentially prevented from assisting their clients whilst these restrictions remain in force.

Of course, we all hope such restrictions are never needed in South Australia. Being able to operate your business in such a restricted environment may be required of us in the near future.

I am sure most firms by now have not just contemplated this but implemented technological systems to allow it to occur.

It may be worth documenting more formally the major adjustments you have implemented due to this pandemic so you have a record of these. It is likely to be a useful document to refer back to if another significant threat to our businesses and society arises again.

So, whilst technology is an enabling tool which we will inevitably use in different and increasing ways, we must remain hyper vigilant with protecting our own and our clients’ data and information. Cyber threats, like pandemics, can swiftly and easily bring our businesses to an abrupt halt, and it’s critical to have contingency plans ready to go in such emergencies. B