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Four reasons to use cloud for eDiscovery

by David Greetham
 

Secure cloud services can be a powerful way to provide information on demand in the litigation environment.

In particular, secure cloud services for legal organizations can be an efficient platform for hosting the reams of data often required in eDiscovery matters.

However, law firms and corporations have been slow to migrate to the cloud because of concerns over the security of data storage. Such concerns may have been valid a few years ago, but the security of today’s cloud is vastly improved.

The latest ILTA/InsideLegal Technology Purchasing Survey1 characterizes attorneys’ fears about the cloud. When respondents were asked to identify the most compelling reasons to avoid cloud services, the top response was security (63 percent). The truth is that cloud services can be as safe or even safer than other options for eDiscovery. Here are four reasons why.

 

1. Yes, you DO know where your data is.

Attorneys are nervous because they think with cloud services they won’t know where their data is physically stored. But, today many cloud service providers enable their customers to dictate where to store their data, down to the specific street address of the data center. With this capability, law firms can be confident that their data is in one centralized location, rather than worrying that it might be dispersed across multiple locations, perhaps even in different countries.
 

2. Cloud services provide disaster recovery and business continuity as effectively as traditional data centers.

When building a platform for eDiscovery, it’s vital to include iron-clad disaster recovery and business continuity plans. Reputable cloud service providers typically have built-in redundancy. The cloud has thousands of servers available to recover from any disaster. You can even set up servers to replicate automatically in a different specified geography in the event of catastrophe. While traditional data centers use similar technology, cloud options are typically more robust and have more location options.
 

Users sometimes worry that their data is not secure in the cloud. But, data can be encrypted while traveling to and from the cloud, as well as while it is stored in the cloud.

 

3. You can have sophisticated encryption in the cloud.

Users sometimes worry that their data is not secure in the cloud. But, data can be encrypted while traveling to and from the cloud, as well as while it is stored in the cloud. With a technique called fully homomorphic encryption, data is encrypted at the source, processed in an encrypted state, and returned in encrypted form. If your data stays put in a specific, static location, encryption-at-rest creates another layer of protection. In short, many layers of protection are available to protect your most sensitive data, making cloud services a realistic option for secure eDiscovery platforms.
 

4. Your data is being guarded.

Reputable cloud service providers use security specialists to constantly monitor their systems for attacks 24/7. These specialists also make sure that security best practices are followed and updated. As a client, you inherit this advanced security, which is a significant advantage of using cloud service providers. Because of the competitive nature of cloud services, it’s in the provider’s best interest to provide the best security — and the best level of service possible.

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Greater than image
 
David Greetham
David Greetham, Vice President of eDiscovery Sales and Operations, Ricoh USA, Inc., is responsible for driving Ricoh’s computer forensic and electronic discovery services strategies and growth in the U.S. He has testified as an expert on numerous occasions both nationally and internationally, is a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, a Certified Computer Crime Investigator, a Certified Fraud Examiner, and a Certified Forensics Litigation Consultant. Greetham is the inventor and developer of Remlox™, a forensically sound “remote collection” tool which has already been used in 37 countries throughout the world.
 
 
1 International Legal Technology Association. Inside LegalTechnology Purchasing Survey. 2015.