As new computer-based threats like ransomware attacks, phishing scams and hacking plague law firms on a daily basis, it’s easy to forget about security risks caused by paper documents. In recent years, firms have aspired to a paperless or paper-light law office, but mostly motivated by efficiency, not security objectives. The fact is that paper is downright dangerous to data security and compliance initiatives for the firm, so it’s time to eliminate paper from the law firm’s workflow.
Paper documents can be stolen, lost, photographed, grabbed from a shared company printer, or sent to the wrong place to be read and circulated by unintended audiences. Since paper documents are physical objects, they are not necessarily tracked or contained like electronic files are—there is no audit trail for them. Paper documents potentially expose a law firm and its clients to risks that have real consequences.
