Law Firm Network Security Considering Subtenants

If your a law firm with a subtenant renting out space within your own firm space there are a few factors to consider regarding your client’s data security and network security as a whole. Rekall works with many firms in New York City where this setup seems to be extremely popular for larger firms renting out to solo practitioners. This article documents a few tips to be aware of if your firm is in this subtenant situation.

Lock Down Your Network | Your IT staff should be able to lock down your network and segment your network both on the hard-wire and WiFi level so that the internet access your tenant is using is segregated from your firm’s internet access & traffic. Having anyone not affiliated with your firm on your firm network is a liability & risk to your client data. On the same network, someone with a little knowledge may be able to get into your workstations or servers. This may not even be the tenant that offers the risk, it may be a tenant’s client that comes onsite for a meeting.

Offer Your Tenant Secure WiFi Access | If your tenant is offered secured private WiFi then there is no reason for them to bring in any hardware that may cause a network issue. There are constant issues that cause havoc with firms when subtenants bring in hardware. They can plug a device into a wrong port and in many cases bring your firm’s network down. On other cases, tenants on your network may bring in their own WiFi hardware and broadcast access to your unsecured network wirelessly, opening up your network to anyone within WiFi range. In the end it’s just easier and more secure to give your tenant the tools they need to work instead of having them try and figure it out on their own and possibly bring down your network in the process.

Multiple Tenant Situations | Rekall supports law firms with 3, 4 and 5 subtenants with networks managed by enterprise level firewalls and 5 way segmented WiFi. For firms who wish to offer printer / scanner / copier services to their subtenants, Rekall has even secured networks while letting all networks have access to a copier device. This is advanced subtenant networking but with the right hardware you can offer your subtenants next level services and shared office resources while keeping your firm completely and 100% secure.