Comments on: ET, I mean, Laptop - Call Home.. http://thoughtfullaw.com/2008/06/08/et-i-mean-laptop-call-home/ Empowering lawyers to anticipate the changes, realize the opportunities, face the challenges and embrace the expanding possibilities of the application of practice management concepts to the practice of law in innovative ways that provide service excellence. Tue, 06 Jan 2009 02:51:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2 By: admin http://thoughtfullaw.com/2008/06/08/et-i-mean-laptop-call-home/#comment-3400 admin Thu, 12 Jun 2008 05:46:21 +0000 http://thoughtfullaw.com/2008/06/08/et-i-mean-laptop-call-home/#comment-3400 Murray: I couldn't agree with you more! In fact, Jim Calloway (a fellow legal technology blogger and friend) and I have been carrying out a dialogue on encryption of hard drives (http://jimcalloway.typepad.com/lawpracticetips/2008/04/security-issues.html) and (http://thoughtfullaw.com/2008/04/11/an-idea-whose-time-has-come/). I agree with you that the data on data devices that are mobile (and perhaps even the hard drives in a secure office) should be fully encrypted (*not just certain files*) to ensure client confidentiality. And yes, certain encryption algorithms will apply to USB flash drives, external hard drives and the like. Thanks for the post! Cheers, Dave Murray:

I couldn’t agree with you more! In fact, Jim Calloway (a fellow legal technology blogger and friend) and I have been carrying out a dialogue on encryption of hard drives (http://jimcalloway.typepad.com/lawpracticetips/2008/04/security-issues.html) and (http://thoughtfullaw.com/2008/04/11/an-idea-whose-time-has-come/).

I agree with you that the data on data devices that are mobile (and perhaps even the hard drives in a secure office) should be fully encrypted (*not just certain files*) to ensure client confidentiality. And yes, certain encryption algorithms will apply to USB flash drives, external hard drives and the like.

Thanks for the post!

Cheers,

Dave

]]> By: Murray http://thoughtfullaw.com/2008/06/08/et-i-mean-laptop-call-home/#comment-3398 Murray Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:24:43 +0000 http://thoughtfullaw.com/2008/06/08/et-i-mean-laptop-call-home/#comment-3398 Not sure it's possible to encrypt data on eternal hard drives. I meant to say external hard drives. Not sure it’s possible to encrypt data on eternal hard drives. I meant to say external hard drives.

]]> By: Murray http://thoughtfullaw.com/2008/06/08/et-i-mean-laptop-call-home/#comment-3397 Murray Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:18:47 +0000 http://thoughtfullaw.com/2008/06/08/et-i-mean-laptop-call-home/#comment-3397 The blog entry describes an interesting concept of enabling an electronic device to "call home" when it is lost or stolen. Unfortunately, data on laptop hard drives, memory cards and external hards drives is in the clear and can be copied to another medium before the device is returned to the owner. Consequently the owner is left vulnerable to identity theft issues and private data stored on the drives is available for all to see. I suggest that you augment the "call home" software by encrypting the data on laptop and eternal hard drives. Although Microsoft Windows XP Professional can encrypt data there are other tools that are much more effective. One tool is TrueCyrpt (www.truecrypt.org) which is an open source tool that does on the fly encryption, is very fast and supports many strong encryption techniques. It is open source, which is a good thing, and is available free of charge. The blog entry describes an interesting concept of enabling an electronic device to “call home” when it is lost or stolen. Unfortunately, data on laptop hard drives, memory cards and external hards drives is in the clear and can be copied to another medium before the device is returned to the owner. Consequently the owner is left vulnerable to identity theft issues and private data stored on the drives is available for all to see.

I suggest that you augment the “call home” software by encrypting the data on laptop and eternal hard drives. Although Microsoft Windows XP Professional can encrypt data there are other tools that are much more effective.

One tool is TrueCyrpt (www.truecrypt.org) which is an open source tool that does on the fly encryption, is very fast and supports many strong encryption techniques. It is open source, which is a good thing, and is available free of charge.

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