Overview
Which is more appealing: enrolling in an online paralegal programme or obtaining a paralegal certification? Our guide will address your questions. New types of professions are emerging as a result of the Internet’s enormous technological developments, who have figured out how to take advantage of the Internet’s accessibility, connectivity, and speed. Online Paralegals are a subset of these experts who provide legal support.
We’ve spoken with some of our customers in the legal industry, and many of them believe that the possibility of operational cost savings is the primary justification for hiring a virtual paralegal.
We know how much the online paralegal legal profession relies on documents. So how can virtual paralegals and attorneys share documents? I am aware of your thoughts. You may be wondering where the issue is, and that’s correct.
How to transfer files with online paralegals
It is now a lot simpler to connect, work together, and share files with a virtual paralegal because of improvements in the Internet. It makes no difference if you are working on a case in New York while she is in Los Angeles. You two are still capable of working and finishing the assignment.
So for what purposes do virtual paralegals and attorneys, of course, use file-sharing technologies?
Well, many of them still use the postal service or fax machines to send documents. But others send those documents via the Internet after converting them to electronic form (if they haven’t already). It’s both quicker and more practical. There are now two abroad used methods for delivering files over the Internet: email and FTP.
We know how many documents are often required in court cases. So many attorneys and paralegals opt for the latter to finish the file-sharing duty as fast as workable.
Please see the section titled “Much faster than email” in the article Benefits of Using a Managed File Transfer Server in eDiscovery for a more in-depth explanation of the drawbacks of email, particularly when transmitting huge volumes of files.
Risks associated with FTP exchange of sensitive data
FTP is excellent for sharing several large, individual, or many small files. Due to how simple it is to use, many lawyers adore it. Moving files from one local folder in your computer to another is like moving data, even when doing it over the Internet.
Here is an example of a standard FTP file transmission (see screenshot below). An image of any client, our free multi-protocol, OS-independent secure file transfer client, is displayed.
FTP has a significant flaw despite having a foolproof interface: it is very susceptible. A file sent over FTP travels through the Internet in clear view, making it simple for a man-in-the-middle attacker to intercept and view the delivered data.
The information should be acceptable if it is optional. Yet, you must preserve the privacy of that information when dealing with sensitive matters, such as trade secrets, employee salary, attorney-client private information, or information covered by legislation like state and territorial data breach laws, HIPAA, GLBA, PCI-DSS, and SOX.
This might happen very fast during litigation preparation operations. The exchange of files during e-discovery, which can encompass a variety of materials file sizes of tens to hundreds of Gigabytes, is a prime example.
Reasons why an MFT Server is preferable
The exchange of files is more secure through an MFT (Managed File Transfer) server. If you’ve attempted file sharing using FTP, you won’t experience difficulties using an MFT server. The same steps must be taken.
The majority of MFT servers also let you use FTP. But, we don’t tell it, particularly for those in the online paralegal industry. We recommend using the security features on an MFT server that performs almost the same as an FTP server.
Use FTPS or SFTP, for example, to encrypt your data during transmission and prevent packet sniffing or other man-in-the-middle assaults from being successful. SSL certificates could be used to establish strong authentication.
Other security features on MFT servers like JSCAPE MFT Server include:
-
OpenPGP is used to encrypt files on your server;
-
secure password setups – for implementing more robust passwords and for regulatory compliance;
-
DLP is used to find sensitive information, no doubt.
-
Automatic antivirus protection keeps files safe from viruses, among many other things.
You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of any privileged or protected information that you have. Additionally, this obligation should be upheld even harder when sharing the data with others, such as your colleagues, legal support personnel, and virtual paralegals.
Summary
When you share files with a virtual paralegal, an MFT server can assist you in maintaining the confidentiality of privileged and protected information.
