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e-Discovery in The Cloud Not As Simple As You Think – Forbes

November 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment

While organizations are utilizing cloud-based solutions more and more, eDiscovery from those solutions often remains an afterthought. In many cases, there is little consideration of how information in the cloud will be placed on legal hold, or how it will be accessed, reviewed and produced in response to litigation or regulatory requests. While there seems to be a widespread assumption that information in the cloud is at an organization’s fingertips at all times with the touch of a search button, that is not necessarily the case.

A large majority of respondents to our “The Cloud and eDiscovery” survey are using cloud-based solutions, ranging from hosted email archiving to popular applications like Salesforce.com and QuickBooks. Companies are knowingly or unknowingly storing discoverable information assets in the cloud. But the real question they should be asking is, “Do we have a plan in place for eDiscovery should the need arise?”

eDiscovery Plan

Overwhelmingly, the answer is no. Only 16% of respondents indicate that an eDiscovery plan is in place for cloud-based information management solutions. Granted, only 26% actually responded that they do not have an eDiscovery plan in place, but what is truly scary is the 58% who don’t even know if a plan exists. This means that many organizations, when they face an investigation or litigation, will be left scrambling in a reactive firefight to collect information from the cloud. That will inevitably lead to higher costs and more difficulty making informed legal decisions quickly.

Any organization utilizing cloud-based solutions to store information needs to have eDiscovery plans for each one of those solutions. Such plans need to define access protocols, service-level agreements for how quickly information can be produced, documentation for chain of custody and any kind of advanced functionality (e.g., content analytics for Early Case Assessment) that will be included.

via e-Discovery in The Cloud Not As Simple As You Think – Forbes.

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Law Firms Limit Use of Cloud Computing Due To Security Concerns | JD Journal

November 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Security is important no matter what field you are in. When it comes to law firms this is especially important. Law firms use several types of technology to handle their documents and other processes. While technology managers in law firms were previously interested in cloud computing they are reducing their drive towards it citing security concerns. They are focusing on the security of their information more according to the studies done by The American Lawyer. One of the driving forces behind this is clients asking the firms to detail their policies in security whenever they are working with the firm.

When a survey was done of the ones using the cloud computing, the main functions used are items that are non-core . For example e-discovery and human resources are the bulk of the applications used. Of those surveyed only 8% say they are using the cloud for document management. The biggest drawback sited was their concerns for security. Among the findings that the survey produced the budgets for technology are averaging around $4.7 million for the firms. This is an increase of 7% from last year.

A problem that seems to be complicating security is the increased use of personal devices in the workplace. The CIOS are managing this successfully they report by using the new generation of management software for the mobile devices. One example of that is Good Technology INC’s Good For Enterprise and MobileIron’s Virtual Smartphone Management Platform. These help to deal with the issues that arise in the office because of more occurrences of using mobile data in the offices. This is likely to increase as well each year as more and more new mobile devices come out.

While all the firms that were surveyed still use the BlackBerry phones, there are 96% of those surveyed that have users on iOS systems. Those numbers are up from 2010 with those numbers were only 77%. Android devices have also gone up from 43% to 67% this year. This shows that more and more law firms are increasing their use of the iPhone and iPad as well as other options in the mobile industry.

via Law Firms Limit Use of Cloud Computing Due To Security Concerns | JD Journal.

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Corporations and Their Lawyers Look to the Cloud for DIY E-discovery | Law.com

November 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

When it comes to e-discovery, corporations and law firms are constantly seeking new ways to drive up efficiency while keeping their costs low. A new survey released by legal technology firm Kroll Ontrack reveals that many are looking to do-it-yourself (DIY) discovery platforms to achieve that balance.

The firm conducted the survey in September in preparation for this week’s launch of its Verve e-discovery DIY platform. Respondents included 100 of the Fortune 1000 companies and 100 medium-to-large law firms. The survey looked at the factors driving corporate decisions to outsource versus keeping e-discovery inside.

“We’ve seen the e-discovery market evolve and mature, and organizations are increasingly looking toward DIY e-discovery software platforms,” says Michele Lange, director of product line management for legal technologies at Kroll.

“Corporations and law firms are increasingly doing some of it in-house,” says Lange.

Eighty-six percent of respondents said they are conducting some aspect of e-discovery on their own. “I think this is a much higher percentage than most people that follow the market would guess,” she says.

via Corporations and Their Lawyers Look to the Cloud for DIY E-discovery.

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Embracing Cloud Data Protection and Recovery | SYS-CON MEDIA

November 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Cloud Computing Journal: How fast will the last remaining barriers to enterprise-wide cloud adoption melt away – are secure public clouds feasible, for example, or only private ones?

Alan Dayley: Cloud computing has been on the fringe for many years and with different names. But like any monumental shift in technology, the momentum has been slowly building and is on the verge of exploding. Secure public clouds are very feasible, and may be more secure than a local IT environment, as cloud providers understand the importance of ensuring the privacy of customers’ data and information and can do so in a more scalable way. SMB/SMEs will continue to look to public cloud computing to reduce overhead and to better manage their IT needs. A key need and current headache is data protection. Small businesses can embrace cloud data protection and recovery through a company like i365 to ensure that their data is secure and always available.

Cloud Computing Journal: What is the biggest new dimension of consumer cloud computing? Is it Cloud Telecoms, Cloud TV, Cloud Music, or what?

Dayley: At the end of the day what’s important to technology users are their applications and their data, whether this be personal pictures and music files or corporate databases. The newest trend is ensuring access to these applications and data in the way the customer wants to access it. i365 helps customers achieve peace of mind that their data is always available, no matter what the circumstance or even possible disaster may happen at the customer site.

Cloud Computing Journal: How much of an influence on cloud adoption is the US Government’s continuing support of cloud strategies for all government agencies?

Dayley: The US Government has historically been slow to adopt technology (except in the case of defense and intelligence) so seeing the rapid move to adopt cloud computing for other departments with the promise of cost savings and availability reinforces not only the viability of the cloud but readily helps adoption.

via Embracing Cloud Data Protection and Recovery | SYS-CON MEDIA.

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French Data Protection Authority Launches Public Consultation on Cloud Computing : : Privacy and Information Security Law Blog

October 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment

On October 17, 2011, the French Data Protection Authority (the “CNIL”) launched a public consultation on cloud computing (the “Consultation”). The Consultation seeks to gather opinions from stakeholders (clients, providers, consultants) regarding cloud computing services for businesses, to identify legal and technical solutions that address data protection concerns while taking into account the economic interests involved.

  • The Consultation addresses several specific topics about personal data protection in the cloud computing context, including:
  • The definition of cloud computing
  • Cloud computing providers as data processors
  • Applicable law (i.e., what law applies to cloud computing stakeholders?)
  • Regulation of data transfers (e.g., what legal instruments are best suited to regulate cloud computing? Would binding corporate rules for data processors be an appropriate legal mechanism for transferring personal data to cloud computing service providers?)
  • Data security (e.g., cloud-specific risks and proposed security measures)

via French Data Protection Authority Launches Public Consultation on Cloud Computing : : Privacy and Information Security Law Blog.

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How global laws protect your data | Cloud technology | guardian.co.uk

October 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment

In February last year, three Google executives were handed suspended six month prison sentences by an Italian court for violating the privacy of a boy with Down’s Syndrome by allowing the website to broadcast video of him being bullied in a school in Turin. Although the video had been uploaded in Italy back in 2006, it had been processed by servers in the US and Ireland. No content had been hosted in Italy, but Google’s Italian office was enough to give the Italian courts jurisdiction.

For companies wanting to store data in the cloud there is a minefield of data protection laws to negotiate, so it is essential to know which country your data is physically stored in. “Most organisations don’t even know what data they have,” says Tony Lock, programme director at IT services consultancy Freeform Dynamics. “They are unsure where all the data is and once they’ve found it they are unsure how to protect it.”

The European Union’s Data Privacy Directive is crucial for UK firms. Created to facilitate the free movement of sensitive private information within Europe, it also makes it hard for data to be moved outside the region. Implemented across Europe but with local variations, the requirement for UK firms is to take “appropriate technical and organisational measures” to protect data. Italy goes further and sets out what those measures should be and Denmark requires internet transmission of such data to be encrypted.

But which laws apply, for example, to a British company storing data about UK customers via a contract with a US cloud provider whose servers are located in Poland? At the moment – all three. Within the EU, a company can be prosecuted if it has an established presence in the form of an office and staff, equipment it owns or operates or if it just makes use of a data centre or equipment in a European country.

via How global laws protect your data | Cloud technology | guardian.co.uk.

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Cloud Computing Case Clarifies Applicability of U.S. Privacy Law to Non-U.S. Nationals : Electronic Discovery Law

October 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in its October 3, 2011 decision in Suzlon Energy Ltd v. Microsoft Corporation, has taken another step in defining the rights of people to protect their emails from being disclosed in civil court proceedings.  The question before the Suzlon court was whether a party can require a U.S. electronic communication service provider to produce emails stored on a U.S. server for the account of a non-U.S. national without regard to the safeguards and restrictions imposed by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA).  The court answered with a clear “no,” stating that the protections of the ECPA against unrestricted disclosure of emails by an electronic communication service provider apply to non-U.S. nationals as well as to U.S. citizens.

via Cloud Computing Case Clarifies Applicability of U.S. Privacy Law to Non-U.S. Nationals : Electronic Discovery Law.

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Electronic Discovery in the Cloud | Duke Law & Technology Review

September 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Cloud Computing is poised to offer tremendous benefits to clients, including inexpensive access to seemingly limitless resources that are available instantly, anywhere. To prepare for the shift from computing environments dependent on dedicated hardware to Cloud Computing, the Federal Rules of Discovery should be amended to provide relevant guidelines and exceptions for particular types of shared data. Meanwhile, clients should ensure that service contracts with Cloud providers include safeguards against inadvertent discoveries and mechanisms for complying with the Rules. Without these adaptations, clients will be either reluctant or unprepared to adopt Cloud Computing services, and forgo their benefits.

continued @  Electronic Discovery in the Cloud.

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E-Discovery Moves to the Cloud – Forbes

August 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The cloud model has a three-tiered architecture based on (i) infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), (ii) platform as a service (PaaS); and (iii) software-as-a-service (SaaS). Cloud-based services may be used on demand, anywhere in the world (“location independent”) and independent of any specific hardware behind a corporation or law firm’s firewall.  Cloud-based e-discovery vendors offer numerous benefits for the corporations and law firms that partner with them. These include:

The ability to scale or decrease one’s service level at almost no marginal cost beyond that of the on-demand services;

Not having to purchase upgrades;

Drastic reductions in on-premise capital expenditures. IDC predicts that cloud computing will reduce the cost of owning IT infrastructure by 54 percent. The importance of such a decrease is highlighted by the statistics presented below.

Usage-based pricing with no fixed contracts or contracts with renewable terms as short as 30 days.

It’s no coincidence that these benefits share an overriding theme – cost savings. Information Week sponsored a study of 374 business technology professionals. Each was asked to identify the biggest challenges associated with on-premise business applications. Multiple responses were permitted. The results are not surprising, and should counsel corporations and law firms, which are much less likely to have adequate internal infrastructure, to partner with cloud-based e-discovery vendors.

Cost of IT staff resources that must be supported – 57%

Cost of upgrading software – 57%

Cost of maintaining infrastructure – 55%

The inability to take advantage of functionalities then-available on the newest version – 34%

The lack of flexibility to support changing business needs – 32%

Dated user interfaces – 27%

Limited number of vendors to choose from – 22%

via E-Discovery Moves to the Cloud – Forbes.

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Google’s Chrome OS is Getting More Enterprise (and Windows) Friendly

August 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Chromebooks Getting Sexier for the Enterprise

Aside from virtualization, the latest Chrome OS build brings in features that will make Chromebooks an ideal choice for road warriors:

Better support for Google Cloud Print, which includes Print to Docs;

Netflix video streaming;

Kindle Cloud Reader, which supports offline reading of e-books;

Faster bootup and resume-from-sleep — at least 32% faster than the previous stable build.

If you’re a Chromebook user, the system updates have likely been pushed to your notebook. Most other application updates are done on the cloud, so it’s a worry-free proposition for Chrome OS users.

That’s not the clincher. You might have heard about Google’s leasing plans for the Samsung Series 5 and Acer AC700 targeted at the enterprise and educational markets. Google is offering Chromebooks for as low as $20 monthly for consumers and $28 monthly for enterprise users. This lets businesses move their computer costs from capital expenditure to operational expenses, which can be a good thing, accounting-wise.

via Google’s Chrome OS is Getting More Enterprise (and Windows) Friendly.

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