Spymail, A Little-Known Risk For Attorneys And Firms

When managing risk in today’s law firm or legal department, one big risk is often overlooked. It arrives in the guise of normal email, and unlike many other kinds of threats you don’t have to click to activate it. All you need to do is open the email. This is different than “spyware,” which is commonly understood to be software that gets installed surreptitiously on a device and then runs in the background. Spymail, although it’s not as open-ended and potentially devastating, does something else that can be damaging, particularly in the context of litigation or potential litigation: With its hidden tracking code, it relays details about the recipient’s interactions with the email back to the sender, including when it was opened and when and where it was forwarded. “In the wrong hands, this kind of intelligence can expose any business to a range of legal, privacy and security risks,” explain Paul Everton and Chad Gilles in this Today’s General Counsel article. “For legal departments, it can be especially damaging.”