This reminds lawyers of every tech-savvy lawyer's nightmare.
In a profession where time is money, technology hiccups like the Blue Screen of Death can feel more terrifying than anything else we face.
Make sure you back up your work!
a faulty software update from CrowdStrike created caos for many industries - lawyers may have been one of them!
Last week, the legal community was jolted by a significant disruption caused by a faulty software update from CrowdStrike, a leading cybersecurity firm 🛡️. This update, intended for Microsoft Windows systems, led to widespread outages, affecting numerous sectors, including airlines ✈️, hospitals 🏥, and financial institutions 🏦. The incident serves as a stark reminder for lawyers about the vulnerabilities inherent in relying solely on a single operating system or service provider.
The Fallout Across Sectors 🌪️
The CrowdStrike update, deployed on July 19, 2024, inadvertently caused Windows machines to crash, displaying the infamous "Blue Screen of Death" (BSOD) 💀. This glitch had a domino effect, particularly in sectors heavily reliant on Windows-based systems. Airlines were among the hardest hit, with thousands of flights canceled or delayed as check-in and scheduling systems went offline ❌. For instance, Delta Air Lines and its affiliates canceled over 1,100 flights, while other major airlines faced similar disruptions.
Hospitals and emergency services also experienced significant setbacks 🚑. In the United States, the Emergency Alert System reported 911 outages in several states, while hospitals in Germany and Israel had to cancel non-urgent surgeries and reroute ambulances. Financial institutions, including banks in Australia and New Zealand, faced system inaccessibility, affecting transactions and customer services 💳.
The Impact on Apple Users 🍎
Interestingly, Apple users remained largely unaffected by this debacle. The faulty update was specific to Windows systems running CrowdStrike's Falcon software, leaving macOS and Linux systems unscathed 😌. However, Apple computers may have been indirectly impacted due to services that run on Windows-based platforms, such as Software as a Service (SaaS) applications and Windows-based servers. This highlights that even if the hardware and operating systems are secure, dependencies on Windows-based services can still cause disruptions.
Lessons for Lawyers 📚⚖️
Lawyers can learn many lessons from the crowdstrike snafu!
The CrowdStrike incident is a powerful lesson for lawyers and law firms about the importance of tech diversification and robust contingency planning. Here are some key takeaways:
Cross-Platform Services 🔄: Relying on a single operating system or service provider can be risky. Lawyers should consider integrating both Windows and macOS systems within their practices. Similarly, using both iPhone 📱 and Android 🤖 devices can mitigate risks associated with platform-specific outages.
Redundant Internet and Cellular Providers 📡: Ensuring that your practice has access to multiple internet and cellular providers can prevent complete shutdowns during service outages.
Secure and Reliable Data Backups 💾: Regularly backing up data to secure, redundant locations is crucial. Cloud-based services ☁️, external hard drives, and even physical copies can ensure that critical information remains accessible during tech crises.
Cybersecurity Vigilance 🔐: Staying updated with the latest security patches and updates is essential. However, it's equally important to have a protocol for quickly addressing any issues that arise from these updates.
The CrowdStrike MS Windows SNAFU should serve as a wake-up call for the legal community 🚨. Diversifying tech infrastructure and maintaining robust, secure data backups are not just best practices—they are essential strategies for ensuring continuity and resilience in the face of unforeseen disruptions. By learning from this incident, lawyers can better safeguard their practices and continue to serve their clients effectively, even in the midst of technological crises 💪.
The downing of at&T’s INTERNET service caused some concern across the us…
AT&T’s outage last week should serve as a warning to lawyers about their own internet reliability (I don’t know how a $5 refund will alleviate AT&T customers from the self-panic ensued by the outage?🧐). In the digital age, the legal profession, like many others, has grown increasingly reliant on the Internet for its operations. The internet is an indispensable tool in a lawyer's arsenal, from conducting research and accessing legal databases to communicating with clients and filing documents electronically. However, this dependency also means that internet outages can significantly disrupt legal operations, posing challenges that law firms must navigate to maintain continuity and uphold their duties to their clients.
Lawyers can take several proactive measures to ensure minimal disruption in their work due to internet outages. Here are five strategies to consider:
Backup Key Resources Offline: Lawyers should ensure they have offline access to critical resources, such as legal databases, case law, statutes, and client files. This can involve preemptively downloading essential documents and using software that allows offline access to these materials.
Establish a Redundant Internet Connection: Having a backup Internet connection can be crucial for maintaining productivity during an outage. Since AT&T went down last week, having a different provider (perhaps on a cheaper plan) could be a good investment. This could be in the form of a secondary wired connection, a mobile hotspot, or a tethering option through a smartphone. Investing in a reliable data plan for mobile devices can provide an immediate alternative if the primary connection fails. (For example, I have Verizon FIOS for the office Wi-Fi, AT&T for phone and internet on my personal cell, and Verizon mobile for my blog phone and internet. BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP, or REDUNDANCY, REDUNDANCY, REDUNDANCY!
Regular Data Backup: Regularly backing up data to external drives or cloud storage that can be accessed offline ensures that work can continue seamlessly, even without an internet connection. Automated backup solutions can be set up to run during off-hours to ensure that all recent work is securely stored. Remember, my So, if one of your backups is in the cloud, then your other backup should be in a physical location like a hard drive at your office or offsite.
Develop and Test an Emergency Plan: It does not help if your emergency strategy doesn’t work! Creating an emergency plan that outlines steps to take during an internet outage can help minimize downtime. This plan should include contact information for IT support, steps for switching to a backup internet source, and a list of critical tasks that can be performed offline. Regularly testing this plan ensures everyone knows what to do when the internet goes down.
Invest in Training and Preparedness: Ensuring that all staff members are trained on how to access and use offline resources and understand the emergency plan is crucial. This can include training on manual procedures for tasks typically performed online, such as filing documents or conducting research.
lawyers can be proactive in the event of their internet going down!
By taking these proactive steps, lawyers can minimize the impact of internet outages on their practice, ensuring that they can continue to work effectively and meet their clients' needs, even in the absence of an online connection. Internet outage is a major concern I have with Law Practice Management providers based solely on the internet – if you lose access, there is going to be a major problem – and I don’t know how “understanding” a judge is going to be if you miss a filing deadline because the internet went down. But in the meantime, what can lawyers do if there is downtime due to the internet being offline?
When the internet goes down, a lawyer, like any other professional reliant on online resources, can still stay productive by reverting to more traditional methods of working and organizing. Here are the top five things a lawyer should consider doing when you are completely stuck offline, and you have done everything necessary to protect your client’s interests:
Lawyers can still be productive during an internet outage!
Review Physical Files and Documents: Without internet access, it's an excellent opportunity to organize and review physical case files, documents, and any printed material that might have been set aside. This can also be an excellent time to catch up on reading case law, statutes, or regulations relevant to current cases that haven't been prioritized.
Plan and Strategize: Use this time to strategize for current cases or projects without the distractions of emails and online notifications. This can involve outlining arguments, planning case strategies, or brainstorming solutions to legal problems. It's also an excellent time to set goals and priorities for the coming weeks or months.
Networking and Client Relations: Reach out to clients, colleagues, and other professionals through phone calls. This can be an excellent opportunity to check in on clients, discuss cases, and build stronger relationships. Networking can also involve setting up future meetings or lunches.
Continuing Legal Education (CLE) and Professional Development: Lawyers often have CLE requirements to maintain their licenses. When the internet is down, it's an excellent time to catch up on CLE materials available in physical formats, such as books, journals, or even pre-downloaded audio or video courses.
Administrative Tasks and Office Organization: Use the downtime to catch up on administrative tasks that might have been neglected. This can include organizing the office space, filing, billing & invoicing, or even planning for future marketing efforts.
Did AT&T’s internet outage impact your firm’s OPERATIONS? Please share your stories!!!
While the internet is a crucial tool for modern legal practice, being disconnected can provide a valuable opportunity to focus on tasks that might otherwise be overlooked or deferred. It's also a reminder of the importance of having backup plans and being adaptable in the face of unexpected disruptions.
Happy Lawyering!
MTC
It’s World Backup Day! Don’t forget to back up your computers and other data devices!
Read MoreWhat do you do when your home/office internet goes down?!
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Photo by Manuel Geissinger from Pexels
I consider our computer hard drives to be the filing cabinet of our electronic law office. My dad used to tell me stories of looking for similar past pleadings through the rows of filing cabinets in my grandfather's small law office to use as templates. Now we can keep a copy of almost our entire "paper" file in a piece of plastic slightly bigger than a deck of cards. This, in addition to the copy on our laptop or desktop computer. (Don't forget to make multiple backups! See my post on April 1, 2019: Help Prevent Your Law Office's Data Loss!
However, the reliability of these little pieces of plastics with multiple times more moving parts than an old, steel four-drawer filing cabinet has to be better scrutinized. We used to worry only about property insurance and making sure the filing cabinets were fire-resistant. Now we also have to worry about dropping hard disks or the computers they are housed in as they are frequently in motion. The good news is our hard drives appear to get better and better over time.
I came across this report from Backblaze (note I use Backblaze for "a" cloud back up of my office drive). Backblaze has a "farm" of hard drives for their clients. Their farm consists of hard drives from three leading providers, HGST (owned by Western Digital), Seagate, and Toshiba. The storage sizes of their drives range from 4 to 14 TB.
To ensure their clients don't lose data, they have multiple copies of their clients' files distributed throughout their data farm. This requires Backblaze to have over 100,000 disk drives (of various sizes). This provides Backblaze with a large data pool to obtain results. See the image below.
HGST and Toshiba has the lowest Annual Failure Rate ("AFR") of less than 1%. While Seagate drives, appear to have an average of over 1% (with a range reaching as high as 2.67% and a low (only one type) reaching below 1%.
This is by no means a scientific test. But, it does give you some thought about what brand to buy the next time you need a hard drive. Meanwhile, be careful of those "cheaper" brands, as you may find yourself getting what you paid for - something that turns out cheap…
Tips to help prevent data loss!
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MICHAEL D.J. EISENBERG IS A WASHINGTON, DC ATTORNEY WHO LOVES HIS TECH.
Over the years I have found myself helping others (especially lawyers) young and old with their tech questions. With this blog, I hope to share my knowledge on a broader scale. My postings are based on the questions I have been asked in the past and trends I see for the future.
I hope my postings can be used by lawyers of any tech skill. And, in the end, provide the readers valuable insight on how lawyers can better their legal practice and their own personal life with the use of technology.
DISCLAIMER: I cannot and do not offer any guarantee of computer hardware, software, services, practice, etc. discussed in this blog. Use at your own risk. Further, I am not offering any legal advice nor do the discussions in this blog create an attorney-client relationship.
