Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/45522
MANAGING METADATA BEYOND THE DESKTOP COLLABORATION IN DEAL ROOMS/CLIENT PORTALS The problem persists beyond emailed documents. Any other mechanism by which a document leaves the firm poses a risk from document metadata disclosure unless metadata cleaning occurs. Deal rooms or, where specific to a client, client portals are examples of such a mechanism. Once used almost exclusively by solo lawyers and small firms, these portals are increasingly being used by larger firms as an extra service to their clients, as well as for the efficiency and security they provide. Deal rooms and portals allow for documents to be shared, and versions of documents controlled, without the need to email back and forth. Unless encrypted, email is inherently unsecure, whereas communicating via a well-designed portal is not. Reflecting your firm's policy around document metadata removal is as important within this kind of environment as it is within email. To be considered within your firm's policy concerning document metadata: • The creation of documents should always be from a template; otherwise, ensure the base document is cleaned to remove any previous versions or private data. • Determine what information, if any, should be left in a document when it is published, distributed or archived, and clean all other metadata items. • Remember that there are times during the production of a document when some metadata is helpful (e.g., tracked changes when authoring a document). www.iltanet.org Risky Business 67 ADOPT AN AUTOMATIC, SYSTEMATIC APPROACH Minimizing the risk of inadvertent disclosure of information via document metadata cannot be achieved via ad hoc methods reliant on individual users, as provided by many of the desktop metadata removal tools on the market. A more systematic approach is required that covers all documents that are delivered or shared outside of your firm and which also, where possible, automates the process. For email messages, a system that your email server communicates with directly, either within your firm's infrastructure or in the cloud (i.e., software-as-a-service), will cover all messages, whether they are sent by an email client on the desktop, from a mobile device or a mobile access mechanism, such as Microsoft's Outlook Web Access (OWA). For other mechanisms of sharing or sending documents, look for a system that can be integrated with the business system and/or file-transfer mechanism to automate cleaning metadata as the file is sent or published. ILTA