Security
Amicus Cloud takes the security of your data extremely seriously.
Ensuring world-class security for your data involves many aspects:
Physical – Amicus Cloud is hosted on Microsoft® Azure®. Which means your data is in data centers built and managed by Microsoft. The physical security on these centers is like Fort Knox. They are virtually impenetrable bunkers. No one gets in or out without authorization. In fact, very few people get in or out at all, and those have to follow high security precautions to gain access. The data centers have their own power generation and numerous similar protections to ensure that they always stay up and running.
Cyber – the cyber-protections (e.g. firewalls, encryption, filtering routers etc.) in Microsoft Azure data centers are state-of-the-art. Windows Azure is ISO/IEC 27001:2005 certified, SSAE 16/ISAE 3402 audited, and meets the standards for HIPAA and the HITECH Act (these are US laws that apply to healthcare entities concerning access to patient information – Protected Health Information, or PHI).
Redundancy – every piece of information is stored immediately on 3 servers. Which means you not only have an instant back-up, but also you are protected in case of hardware failure. If a computer fails for any reason, one of the back-up servers instantly takes over, so you don’t miss a beat.
Geo-replication – to protect you against an unlikely and extreme catastrophe that disabled an entire data center, everything in the data center is replicated in another data center in a completely different geographical location. This means that there are another 3 servers with all your data in a different city, so you actually have 6 levels of back-up in two different places.
Data access – your data is stored in a separate SQL database, not mixed with those of other firms. No one at the data centers (or elsewhere within Microsoft) has access to your data. Period. They are not even capable of identifying which database is yours. So even if someone could somehow get inside the data center and try to take your information, they could not.
Encryption – all transmissions of your data are done with 256-bit encryption – which is what banks use for your most sensitive financial data. All documents are encrypted as well.
No local “back-door” – some cloud products install information on your local computer which is enough to allow anyone to log into your account. The result is that anyone who has even temporary access to your laptop – physically or by hacking in – can copy this file. And then have complete access to everything that you have put in that cloud system. Amicus Cloud absolutely does not do this!
All of which means that data in Amicus Cloud is much more secure than data on the computers and local networks of almost any law firm. No one can 100% guarantee the security of data on any computer connected to the Internet. But what can be said is that with Amicus Cloud and Microsoft Azure, data is much safer than it is on your laptop.
If you’re considering other cloud solutions, you should ask them how they do on each of the above aspects.
Peace of Mind
With the numerous levels of security, encryption and with the reliability of Windows Azure, you can sleep better at night knowing that your Amicus information is well protected and accessible when and where you need it.