Publications and Official Cloud Guidelines.
Various organisations have published and commented upon the use of cloud services over the years. Here is a small selection of those, which are most relevant to your practice, together with links to them. Official Cloud Guidelines, if you like.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has published:
♦ ICO Guidance on the use of Cloud Computing
The Law Society of England & Wales.
♦ See: Practice Notes on Cloud Computing
Cloud Industry Forum.
♦ Cloud adoption quality guide
The Law Society of British Columbia.
♦ Practice Resource Cloud Computing Checklist
The Ministry of Justice guidance – CJSM users must comply with.
♦ Ministry of Justice guidance on Cloud Computing and CJSM
Microsoft Office 365 – A view on the UK legal Sector guidance.
♦ A paper published by Microsoft with their view on compliance of Office 365 for the UK Legal Sector
Cyber-security Information Sharing Partnership (CiSP)
♦ A joint industry government initiative to share cyber threat and vulnerability information
CESG (Communications Electronics Security Group)
A Final Word…
As the Law Society notes, “Cloud systems may provide an alternative means of storing and processing data.”
Depending on whom you talk to, “Cloud computing” may be simply the latest IT buzz word or a dynamic infrastructure used by many organisations. Cloud computing providers claim that they can offer law firms a low-cost alternative to storing and processing data and software on their own computer or local server. Instead, data and software is stored and processed remotely in the cloud provider’s data centre, accessed as a service by using the internet.
One of the main benefits of cloud computing is that it is paid for on a service basis which avoids high initial investment and ongoing upgrade fees associated with software licensing. Other benefits cloud providers claim to offer include increased flexibility for the user, the availability of support and maintenance, the ability to respond more quickly to changing IT demands and simplification of IT systems.”
The Law Society notes that, “like all IT developments, cloud systems present a new set of risks and concerns”. Their advice note is intended to highlight important cloud computing issues to help lawyers decide if a cloud system is right for them and for their law firm.
Contact LawCloud for further information.