Take Control of Your Remote Access

Excerpted from The 2008 Solo and Small Firm Legal Technology Guide: Critical Decisions Made Simple

By Sharon D. Nelson, John W. Simek, and Michael C. Maschke

Virtual-Private Networking

A Virtual-Private Network (VPN) connection is a secure communications network tunneled through another network, such as the Internet. The VPN connection allows a user of a network to connect to their office when working remotely. The communications tunnel allows the data traffic between the remote user and the office network to be encrypted, to maintain the security of the information as it is passed back and forth. This is extremely important for law firms when their lawyers are working on client files while traveling or away from the office. Best of all, the VPN service software is included with Microsoft's server operating systems and the VPN client software is included with Microsoft 2000, XP and Vista operating systems. The average lawyer is likely to be dumbfounded when confronted with setting up a VPN, so this is best left to your IT consultant. However, it is not terribly expensive and it offers terrific security for your data. The greatest advantage of VPNs is that they are multiuser, whereas others are one-on-one solutions.

GoToMyPC

GoToMyPC is a remote connection service that allows you to connect to your work computer when you are away from the office. This service is a great alternative if you're a solo practitioner or if your law firm does not have the ability to set up a VPN type connection for remote users (if you don't have a server). Like a VPN connection, data communications between the client and the host are encrypted and secured. In order to connect to your work computer, software must installed and running on the host machine (the computer which you wish to connect to) and both the client and the host computers must have Internet access. The GoToMyPC web site maintains contact with the host computer so the IP address of the host is always known. This is critical—this solution works even if the host's Internet connection has a dynamic Internet connection which will not remain constant. GoToMyPC costs about $180 per year for one computer license. There is no limitation on how often you may connect to your host computer, and you are not limited from which client machine you have to connect from. The software requires little set up and configuration and can be purchased online from GoToMyPCs web site at www.gotomypc.com.

Symantec pcAnywhere

pcAnywhere is similar to GoToMyPC, with one exception. When using pcAnywhere, you must know the host's IP address or host name in order to connect to the host computer. There is not a central database or web site that monitors and maintains the current address of the host computer. Symantec pcAnywhere works in scenarios where the host computer maintains a static IP address and will not work when the host computer's IP address is dynamically assigned. The software has many configuration options and can be set up to use encryption, file sharing and remote printing. pcAnywhere requires more set up and configuration than GoToMyPC does, and will require an Administrator to set up port forwarding through the host's network router in order for the client communications to reach the destination host computer. A license for Symantec pcAnywhere can be purchased online from Symantec's web site or from your local electronic retail stores for about $200.

Sponsoring Entity:

The ABA Law Practice Management Section