Ride the Lightning

Lawyers: Don’t Be Afraid to Use Zoom

April 7, 2020

There has been a tidal wave of media stories about Zoom being insecure. So let's get real – and practical. Lawyers are capable of using Zoom – and so are their clients. That's a large part of why lawyers have glommed into Zoom. The basic functions are simple to master.

I was struck by one of cybersecurity expert Bruce Schnier's recent posts. As readers of RTL will know, I am a great fan of Schnier. In his post about Zoom, Schneier refers to a lot of legitimate problems but read the post carefully because a lot has been fixed which he duly notes. The Zoom we knew two weeks ago has very significant improvements. Schneier himself, in the post comments, notes that Zoom probably isn't worse than anyone else – it's just under a microscope because of its sudden popularity. That is a fair comment.

Many of the problems lawyers have come from not understanding how to configure Zoom.

Zoom's privacy (getting better, still wretched) and encryption woes are issues. Those are valid observations. I expect they are working on those. In fact, Zoom announced that it would roll out no new features for 90 days while it focuses on tightening security and privacy.

From a practical standpoint, I agree with this:

"Few attackers will ever bother to intercept Zoom communications," said Ilia Kolochenko, founder and CEO of web security company ImmuniWeb, "Even fewer will extract any value from the alleged data sharing with Facebook. Instead, they will bet on the skyrocketing number of poorly configured VPNs and RDP technologies, abandoned servers and unprotected cloud storage, exposed databases and shadow IT resources that widely open the door to companies' crown jewels. Others will hone their skills in large-scale phishing and BEC campaigns. Unfortunately, most of their attacks will likely be tremendously successful."

So dear friends, our advice is to "Zoom" away, but be very careful to use all available security settings. We had some validation on our thoughts from an AmLaw 200 law firm which has been using Zoom for over a year, mindful of the security settings, and is very happy with how lawyers and clients have taken to it like a duck to water.

Sharon D. Nelson, Esq., President, Sensei Enterprises, Inc.
3975 University Drive, Suite 225|Fairfax, VA 22030
Email: Phone: 703-359-0700
Digital Forensics/Cybersecurity/Information Technology
https://senseient.com
https://twitter.com/sharonnelsonesq
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharondnelson
https://amazon.com/author/sharonnelson