Peer to Peer Magazine

18 PEER TO PEER: THE QUARTERLY MAGAZINE OF ILTA | SPRING 2017 BEST PRACTICES Conference Calls: The Forgotten Hole in Client Security Conference Calls: The Forgoen Hole in Client Security call, you can send out dial-in numbers and access codes with high confidence that your guests will appear on the call. It is simple and unlikely to be a catastrophe. Unless it is not secure. The Right Code, the Wrong Call The most influential recent breakthrough in conference calling was the arrival of so-called "reservationless." Hosts no longer need to book facilities or specify call durations or number of guests. They have their own dedicated line they can use whenever they wish. But dial-in and reservationless are a problematic combination. Numbers and codes are used time and again and end up in many hands. This poses a problem in creating a safe and secure arena for sensitive, confidential conversations. There have been some high-profile cases that call out this security hole. Examples include: Notably absent from the list was any mention of conference call meetings, a daily activity between lawyers and their clients. These meetings rarely raise concerns, but they are a forgoen hole in client security. Who Just Joined? Arguably the most-said words on conference calls and remote meetings, "Who just joined?" gets asked because dial-in still dominates as the method of joining a conference call. In a 2015 survey by Research Now, 99 percent of respondents admied to hosting remote meetings at which they were unsure of who was in aendance. Sixty percent considered this lack of security to be the norm, which is alarming given that 93 percent said they shared confidential information during their remote meetings. Why has this been okay for so long? Probably because everyone can do it so easily. As the host of a STEVE FLAVELL Steve Flavell, co-CEO of LoopUp and based out of London, is responsible for the company's global commercial activities. Steve founded LoopUp alongside co-CEO Michael Hughes in 2003. Prior to joining LoopUp, Steve held senior roles at GoIndustry, Monitor Company, Mars & Co and Mobil Oil. He has an MBA from Stanford and MEng from St. John's College, Cambridge. Contact him at steve.flavell@loopup.com. by Steve Flavell Law firms treat client confidentiality as sacrosanct, yet security breaches are on the rise in the legal world. Among the 175 firms that responded to the 2016 ILTA/InsideLegal Technology Purchasing Survey, security management was recognized as the biggest challenge facing legal IT teams. Email management, cloud computing, information governance and "bring your own device" were specified as the greatest challenges related to security.

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