Enter 2018. A new generation of cyber security risks bear names that make it sound like they were implanted by James Bond villains (“Spectre”), with worldwide doomsday impact (“Meltdown”), coupled with anti-virus programs used for international espionage (Kapersky Labs allegations).
As enchanting as the Bermuda sea is, during rough weather, Bermuda’s beguiling reefs have been the source of many lost ships over the past hundreds of years during trans-Atlantic journeys shipping treasures and taxes from the Americas to Europe. However, no one could have anticipated the rough waves that just crashed upon some of the world’s richest and most well-known companies as the true hidden treasure in Bermuda had long been a quietly kept secret by offshore Bermudian lawyers.
You show up in court with a US Certified Mail “Green Card” delivery receipt, evidence that supposedly proves you delivered a timely notice. The other party simply stands up and says quizzically, “Sure we got the certified letter, but no one in our office could figure out why we were sent an empty envelope!” And of course, there’s no proof of what was or wasn’t inside the envelope. Did the mail room attendant or administrator forget to insert the letter?
Habits are often hard to break. Some professional offices, particularly in the health care sector, when there is a need to send something private, send by fax. Their belief is, if they send by fax, the transmission is secure and private (HIPAA compliant).
Millennials are, surprisingly, bewitched by email. More than half of Millennials ages 18 to 24 check their email while still in bed in the morning, and 43% of Millennials ages 25 to 34 report doing the same thing. We were shocked to learn that Millennials prefer to check their email on a PC rather than their smartphone.
Email Prankster Threatens National Security
Why was the newly minted White House communications director, Scaramucci, fired? We don’t know for sure. But an examination of his emails would have shown that he spent the weekend responding to spear phishing emails purported to be sent from Reince Preibus, former White House chief of staff.
Many attorneys, paralegals, HR professionals, and professional service providers steer clear of email when sending legal notices (or notices they are legally obligated to send). Some incorrectly think of email as a medium for only casual or inconsequential correspondence. The truth, however, is that email is often even better than courier or postal delivery for notices with legal implications — but only when coupled with a service that provides certified proof of electronic delivery, time of delivery, and exact message content.
In the recent Tech Essentials article “Changing Trends in Cyber Security,” we highlighted how hackers are becoming more innovative in their ability to use generally available social media (i.e. LinkedIn recruiter tools) and other business applications to target email recipients with imposter email and lure them into wiring money to hackers.
In the past, for individuals and small businesses, cyber security was important to mitigate the inconvenience of spam, viruses that required restoring back-ups of corrupt files, and letters to credit bureaus to clear up identity theft issues.
In the final part of our three part series on common misconceptions about email delivery, we’ll discuss a type of system that many attorneys use and believe can prove fact of e-delivery.
