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The technological advantage of providing electronic data discovery services in the cloud is meant for emancipation of organizations suffering from litigation costs. The spiraling costs involved in employing e-discovery procedures can cause sleepless nights for those dealing with lawsuits. Though cloud based electronic discovery services claim to be beneficial, the security of the information stored is a could be matter of serious concern.

There are two ways in which organizations can benefit from the cloud based eDiscovery process. In the first process, the eDiscovery software vendor provides the applications hosted on their network to customers through the internet. This method is convenient for organizations that do not want to make investments in the deployment of on-premise eDiscovery technology.

In the second process, the customer collects and processes data related to eDiscovery and sends it to the hosting provider via the internet. The provider stores the information on their site and runs various legal edicovery levels. Along with the services, software, consultants and project management are also sometimes provided. There is concern in this process for the security of the data in transit and while at rest.

There are risks of data being compromised with cloud based services because providers offer their services to multiple customers. Organizations undergoing legal trials have to take extra caution to ensure that none of their data is deleted or tampered with. Any electronic information can be asked to be produced as evidence, which could affect the case. A turn of events can be determined by information provided by both parties.

Public Clouds and Private Clouds
A public cloud uses shared applications, hardware and software which are readily available to the public. This can create a treacherous situation for e-disclosure data as there are no standards for monitoring access and controlling security. The public cloud providers do not reveal the location of the stored files and may or may not allow controlling, retention or destruction of data. The assurance of disaster recovery is also minimal. A private cloud on the other hand provides all the facilities and maintains the privacy of customers’ data, unlike the public cloud. Organizations associated with private cloud providers are aware of the data storage destination. They have access to the infrastructure and are authorized to retain and destroy data.

Vital Points To Ensure Data Security in the Clouds

Since data preservation affects the legal disclosure process it is important to ask the cloud service provider how safe the data is in-transit and on their sites. The hosting provider has to provide the following services:

1. Data protection – Data backup is crucial and comes handy in case of any unfortunate accidents that could wipe out the original data.
2. Chain of custody – It is the provider’s responsibility to ensure that data is not modified to maintain the chain of custody.
3. Security while at rest – Data stored for electronic Discovery should not be hosted on public cloud infrastructures as security may be poorly maintained.

The legal industry may be unable to comprehend and implement the right techniques due to lack of IT knowledge. They need to work closely with IT specialists to overcome the complexities and ensure optimum electronic disclosure solutions.