Reiko Feaver, a partner in Culhane Meadows’ Atlanta office, was recently interviewed by PLANADVISER for an article about critical cyber security issues that employers must be aware of as they face operating their newly remote workforce.
Here are some excerpts from Reiko’s interview:
Cybersecurity Is Critical
As the adviser community transitions to remote-based work, cybersecurity and protecting sensitive information should be top of mind, says Cassandra Labbees, a member of the Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Practice at law firm Epstein Becker Green.
“Employees’ Wi-Fi systems to connect to the internet should be private and password protected,” Labbees says. “Should their system go down, they should not access public Wi-Fi. Instead, they should contact their IT department for help.”
It is also important for the lines of communication between employees and managers to remain strong, so workers “feel that there is a network, that working from home is not so isolating,” Labbees says.
Reiko Feaver, a partner at Culhane Meadows, one of the largest cloud-based law firms in the country, says advisory practices should regularly remind their employees not to open suspicious emails that could contain malware.
“There are a lot of phishing emails being sent right now with the subject line ‘Coronavirus’ and posing as coming from legitimate sources,” Feaver says. The laptops that employees use should be password protected and lock after a period of time, be it one to five minutes, she adds.
Other Security Steps
If they are on the phone discussing confidential information, employees should even consider turning off smart assistant speakers or other cloud-based voice activation systems, Feaver says, and if a company decides to permit some employees to work from home, they need to permit all employees to do so.
“Otherwise, the policy could be viewed as discriminatory,” she says.
The complete article can be found here.
About Culhane Meadows – Big Law for the New Economy®
The largest woman-owned national full-service business law firm in the U.S., Culhane Meadows fields over 70 partners in ten major markets across the country. Uniquely structured, the firm’s Disruptive Law® business model gives attorneys greater work-life flexibility while delivering outstanding, partner-level legal services to major corporations and emerging companies across industry sectors more efficiently and cost-effectively than conventional law firms. Clients enjoy exceptional and highly-efficient legal services provided exclusively by partner-level attorneys with significant experience and training from large law firms or in-house legal departments of respected corporations. U.S. News & World Report has named Culhane Meadows among the country’s “Best Law Firms” in its 2014 through 2020 rankings and many of the firm’s partners are regularly recognized in Chambers, Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers and Martindale-Hubbell Peer Reviews.
The foregoing content is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal advice. Federal, state, and local laws can change rapidly and, therefore, this content may become obsolete or outdated. Please consult with an attorney of your choice to ensure you obtain the most current and accurate counsel about your particular situation.
