Re: Winter 2016 | Page 6

the chief Message from services that could diagnose what is wrong with a person on the basis of the symptoms they report and feedback from probes and strap on instruments supplied direct to consumers, and then possibly control a drone that could be dispatched to operate! Equally, it is not impossible to imagine online legal advice being delivered on the basis of documents fed into software capable of analysing the language and apply the latest legislation. I suppose the question you would need to ask yourself, in these circumstances, is – would you trust the treatment/advice enough to rely on it without any human intervention at all? But there is one further element of uncertainty that arises from our hugely increased reliance on digital solutions – the ability of those with less benign intent to exploit its vulnerabilities. In the last magazine, I set out some of the changes that we, and other organisations like us, have needed to implement to stay at the forefront of client care and to be recognised as a leading law firm. Inevitably, changes we make in today’s world tend to revolve around IT, and with us that has meant large scale investment in new software called Peppermint. IT changes can be scary for various reasons. Some of our concerns will be about the pace of the environment in which we now work and spend our time. Some of the issues will be about the radical ways it may affect our jobs. For example, will the full advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) mean that some parts of what we do will no longer need humans to deliver them? IT experts talk about AI being capable of so much more than 4 the human brain, capable of analysing vast amounts of data quickly and more accurately than we can. Algorithms, built in to certain types of software, can look for trends and patterns in all types of activity that humans may never discern, and then apply the results to give solutions that would have been unimaginable 5 years ago. What place is there in such a world for professionals? It is not impossible to imagine online I have mentioned cyber crime before, but it is worth spending further time looking at the issues, as they are so far reaching. The impact of cybercrime is not just a matter of money being stolen. The highly sensitive information held by organisations, including solicitors can be damaging for clients if it falls into criminal hands. The fear of identity theft, or that personal details might be revealed, can itself be highly distressing to individuals whose data is stolen. What are the different types of cybercrime? • Business disruption - Hackers can access and alter websites, just like vandalism in the real world. • DDoS attacks use large numbers of computers to connect to a service multiple times with the aim of overloading it. These computers can be driven to work for the criminals via malware • Email fraud, phishing and vishing “Email remains the medium of choice for cybercriminals” – Symantec. Internet security threat report 2016, Symantec, 2016 • ‘Phishing’ involves a criminal sending