Safeguard your law firm’s sensitive data with hardware-encrypted drives, not software

Misconception: Encrypted emails are secure from hacks and leaks

Many lawyers work under and rely on signed confidentiality agreements and, because of that, often feel confident to attach unencrypted files to emails – which are incredibly vulnerable and are exposed to hackers anywhere in transit. Even software encryption on email attachments gives a false sense of security as available Internet tricks and tools have started successfully uncovering passwords through brute force attacks – networking tens, hundreds or thousands of computers together to guess passwords and decrypt software-encrypted files. Law firms with national and international footprints need to protect information per the American Bar Association’s rules and requirements, in addition to the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), California’s Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), court orders and other structures which govern how data is stored, encrypted and shared between parties.

The best, most secure method that meets all of these regulations for sharing confidential information is through a password-protected, hardware-encrypted USB drive.

Loading information on a password-protected external storage device places security completely under the user’s physical control, removing worries of a cyberattack as it is not connected to the Internet and is like a cloud that can be transported securely between multiple locations or parties. With Kingston IronKey’s Vault Privacy 50 Series USB Flash Drive, Keypad 200 Series Hardware-encrypted USB Flash Drive or D500S USB Flash Drive, there is peace of mind that data will remain safe from both cyber intrusions or if the drive is stolen. All these drives incorporate BadUSB malware safeguards with digitally signed firmware and have a self-contained security system that blocks brute force attacks and shields password entries from keyloggers on untrusted systems – ultimately resulting in the drive doing a crypto-erase and deleting the data forever.

For sharing convenience between parties, or for situations where a password is initially forgotten due to human error, the VP50 series and D500S series drives allow multi-password options: User, Admin and One-Time Recovery (for VP50 series and D500S); the traditional Complex password, offering 3 out of 4 character sets and at least 7-8 characters minimum depending on the drive; and the new Passphrase mode that provides free text from 10-64, or even up to 128, characters. The FBI and NIST recommend Passphrases as preferable to Complex passwords, and the longer passwords are than 15 characters, the more secure they are against guessing attempts.

The KP200 series is an OS-independent drive that can be used on nearly all operating systems or even machines, such as secure printers or copiers used for printing sensitive materials. This USB flash drive features an alphanumeric keypad for easy-to-use PIN access that is coated with a layer of polymer that protects the keys and hides key usage through analysis of fingerprints on the keys. This drive also touts a built-in, rechargeable battery that can be used to unlock the drive first without using any software and can plug into any device that supports a USB type A mass storage device – allowing for lawyers and firms to share the drive with trusted internal or external parties who may use different platforms and operating systems.