Anybody who has ever heard the phrase “attorney-client privilege” in a movie knows that lawyers have a legal obligation to provide clients with confidentiality.
If the ethical imperative wasn’t enough, lawyers might face legal consequences if sensitive information leaks, not to mention devastating reputational damage that results.
Still, many lawyers rely on free apps under the misguided belief that “end-to-end encryption” is the strongest protection possible. Let’s take a closer look at the most secure phones on the market.
Military-Grade Encryption
The phrase “end-to-end encryption” is popularly attached to free apps like WhatsApp and Signal. However, while encryption does need to be end-to-end, encryption can vary widely in strength, even if it’s all end-to-end.
Integrated, military-grade end-to-end encryption cannot be cracked. Lawyers need state-of-the-art encryption, which can’t be found on free apps from the app store.
Security Behind the Scenes
Encryption may be likened to the frontlines of security, but there need to be other mechanisms in place behind the scenes to ensure hackers can’t access your communications.
For example, lawyers need an encrypted cell phone that also addresses security vulnerabilities regarding the operating system, network infrastructure, data transmission, servers, and software.
Lawyers can’t afford to have any weakness in their phone’s security. You can have the best encryption in the world, but if a hacker can find an alternate way to sneak in and obtain your messages, the encryption is obsolete.
Legal professionals need smartphones that eliminate email server storage as a vulnerability from the equation.
Secondary Security Features
The final element of smartphone security is all the features that protect sensitive information even if the phone itself gets lost or stolen. Lawyers need to know that their communications will be private no matter what happens.
Secondary security features give them this peace of mind. Let’s examine a few of the most crucial features:
- Remote Wipe lets users delete any information from their phone from wherever they are. They can empty sensitive communications if they get separated from their phone. So it doesn’t matter if a lawyer’s phone is stolen or lost — the data on it will remain private.
- The Tamper Proof feature is another game-changer. Users can set up a duress password, and if somebody tries to enter the wrong password too many times, the phone will automatically delete all its sensitive information.
- Users can also set messages, pictures, and notes to Self-Destruct. Such content can’t be forwarded, favorited, or saved, and it’ll be deleted from both devices at the set time even if there’s no data connection.
Look for a phone that even has encrypted photos. Finally, while the encryption should be sophisticated, the phone should be easy for non-tech savvy users to operate day-to-day. Security isn’t helpful if, in practice, it’s too cumbersome or complicated to use.
By now, everybody knows what could happen if private information becomes public or hackers obtain sensitive data. However, many people still don’t take the necessary precautions. Legal professionals need to be proactive and get a phone with leading encryption and security features.
