As cloud technology expands and is brought into more IT environments in the legal industry, the awareness and demand of its unique applications steadily increases. One of the main benefits that cloud technology brings that lawyers are finding to be specifically useful is the ability to work remotely. To be able to bring your law firm with you wherever you go is a way more involved process than just anyone with any smartphone can do, and here’s why:

Lawyer-specific Applications

Whatever a lawyer needs for their day-to-day workload, a cloud provider proven in the legal industry has an app for that. A lawyer’s smartphone can act as their fax machine, scanner or even a transcriptionist. Scheduling is very easy on the cloud, which means you can alter your calendar quickly while you are in court. Anything else you can think of, including emailing or document signing, can be done on the cloud through specific applications.

Cloud providers also give you the ability to connect to your office no matter where you are, just as long as you can get an internet connection – which is basically everywhere these days. Because you’re in the cloud, you also know that you get the added benefits of better security and data storage at a low, fixed rate. Speaking of security…

Mobile security for attorneys

Yes, you need to protect your smartphone the same way you protect your work computer. There is a misconception floating around that smartphones, and specifically iPhones, are much safer than desktop computers and don’t get any viruses. This is a flat out falsehood. Smartphones get malware, spam, and other viruses the same exact way any other computer does. People spend more time on their smartphones than actual computers nowadays, hackers have obviously taken notice by now.

Luckily, a good cloud provider will also offer a host of mobile cyber security options that will keep your work on the go as safe as your work in the office. We detailed some specific free apps outside of the cloud that will set up a good safety net, but to really be secure you’ll want these applications:

1. Mobile encryption

Works the same as data encryption on the computer, but just for mobile devices. Mobile encryption makes it so any data that is being encrypted – commonly emails and other private messages – is only legible to the parties involved. If the message were to be intercepted in any way, which is easily done when on public Wi-Fi, then the message would appear as an incoherent mess of letters and numbers to those prying eyes.

1. Two-Factor Authentication

If you will be logging onto any work accounts for emails or any other applications, two-factor authentication is a must. If you set up 2FA on your email account, for example, if that email service notices you logging in from a device it’s not used to seeing you log in from, it will ask for a code to complete the logging in process. The code is sent to a second device, usually your phone.

For more information on how the cloud can help you be a lawyer-on-the-go, check out the TOSS C3 website or call us anytime at 1-888-884-8677.