Welcome to the ‘Horizon’

February 2021 Issue

Richard RoebuckHello everyone and let me start by wishing you all a Happy New Year! I’m sure by now that every single one of us hopes for and is imagining a brighter 2021 and for some form of recognisable return to normality, be that a ‘new one’ or otherwise.

What a year 2020 truly was, the likes of which most of us will have never seen before – and hopefully never have to see or live through again. If there was an upside of this past 12 months, it has to be that we have seen at least two years of technology development and adoption compressed into a matter of months. As I outlined previously, my biggest concern throughout this rapid race to work from home has been (and still is) in and around system security. This month, as promised, we have continued to build upon our security messaging and given you further useful insight into the types of things you should be considering in this regard. I hope you enjoy the read and look forward to joining you again in our next edition.

– Richard Roebuck, Managing Director

Welcome to the team

We would love for you to join us in giving our new starters a warm welcome to the team, we are sure that their addition will bring new and exciting outcomes for Accesspoint and our clients.

Steph Lennox – Operations Manager

During the 30 years that I have worked for law firms, I have held a full spectrum of roles, including Legal Secretary, Systems Administrator, IT Trainer, Case Management developer and Communications Manager which encompassed Marketing & Events as well. That full range of knowledge and experience has led me to the exciting position of Operations Manager with Accesspoint, where I have the opportunity to help develop their internal processes and that of their numerous law firm clients as well. Helping and nurturing people has always been at the heart of my ethos and I’m delighted to be a part of a company with the same values.

Jamie Hamilton – Junior Full Stack Developer

I joined the Media Services team in November after deciding to leave my career in the music industry to retrain in web and software development. I came to the team with experience of producing full-stack web applications, integrating primarily Python, React, JavaScript, CSS, Sass, SQLite, Django and Bootstrap.

I love keeping up to speed with new technologies and have a keen interest in various automation and optimisation tools such as REST APIs, Git and webpack. I’m hoping that my skills can help the vastly talented team at Accesspoint team to achieve even more.

New and Improved Products

As the new year begins, it is essential to ensure your firm can work effectively in addition to standing out from the competition. Our dedicated team have been busy identifying which products and integrations firms will need in 2021 to thrive in the climate we are currently under and will seemingly be under for the longer term. We are excited to show you our increasing list of creative and innovative solutions and updated products to ensure your firm is fully equipped for the year ahead.

Cyber Security Solutions
Group Entity Form
Microsoft Teams Corporate Background

What’s new?

Spot the difference competition!

As some of you may know, Accesspoint Technologies held a spot the difference competition last week, where two seemingly identical emails were sent out, however, one of the emails contained several bait tactics that are often used by hackers to infiltrate a firm’s IT system and cause costly damage to the firm itself and possibly the clients.
The purpose of this competition was to bring attention to some of the various tactics used by hackers today. Some of the tactics may be obvious, however, some of them can only be spotted with closer inspection, which, as we know, is not always possible within a busy day at work. If you weren’t already keeping an eye out, possibly now is the time to take an extra moment when reading your emails – you never know what you may spot.
And the winner is Colin Pendlebury at Forbes Solicitors

A big congratulations to Colin for identifying email B as the correct phishing email and spotting the various security threats. You will be contacted shortly by Hong Tran for details on how to receive your brand-new Amazon Echo and bottle of Champagne!
Thank you to everyone who participated, keep a look out for our next competition.

Cyber Security Solutions at your fingertips

Our business solutions are designed to deliver smart, efficient and secure support to your firm. We ensure that all, of your needs are met with a high quality service and effective costing.

Our Solutions

Need to know – Cyber Essentials now forms part of the Lexcel requirements, and as such, all Legal Aid firms will now need to comply and attain accreditation as soon as possible – We can help your firm gain its certification through our partners and security consultants.

Cyber Essentials
Penetration Testing
Phishing Awareness
ESET Anti-Virus
Mimecast Mail Protect
Device Encryption
Mobile Device Management

Read all about IT!

Avoiding security breaches

When it comes to security breaches, hindsight isn’t a luxury that SME firms can afford, and at this very moment your IT security is being pushed hard by hackers to find weaknesses. In this current climate,the smallest slip-up could lead to disastrous and costly results for everyone involved, and for many SME firms, there is no second chance to look back at what went wrong. Now is the time to take action to prevent such attacks before they happen. That’s why it’s extremely important to ensure an efficient plan is in place to cover all directions of a cyber threat before it occurs.

Where should you start?

Despite what you may think, a cyber-attack is not an elaborate heist with masterminds behind the scenes. In fact, in many cases, it is usually conducted through email correspondence, with the hacker entering the IT system through the ‘front door’ that is often opened by a busy and unsuspecting member of the team.

A scenario that we have seen happen too many times, is a ‘man in the middle’ phishing attack where a fee earner or solicitor opens and clicks onto a link within an email that on the surface appears to be from a trustworthy source, but, in reality, is from a hacker. The hacker can gain the recipient’s trust through the use of a more familiar and well-informed tone of voice, possibly by customising the email to each target’s name, job role or imitating a trusted colleague. However, by the time the recipient has realised something is wrong, it is usually too late, as the hacker is able to entice the recipient to click on the embedded link that is aimed at retrieving confidential details such as names, passwords and logins that could concern themselves, the firm or even the client.

The bait doesn’t stop there though. Email and website spoofing, malicious links and attachments, urgent subjects and calls to action, along with deals that are too good to be true, are just some of the other tactics that can be used within a successful phishing attack. Being able to spot any of these methods can be tricky as the hackers are continuously improving their process with each attempt. It’s therefore extremely important to team up with a reputable legal IT specialist to provide phishing awareness training for your whole team, in order to stay up to date and alert to the forever developing phishing tactics to make your firm less penetrable from unwanted outsiders. In addition to being able to spot the signs of an attack, you must also encourage your team to act immediately and inform someone when they think there has been a breach of data. On average it can take up to 279 days to identify a breach of data, and by that time, irreversible damage can already be done. Creating a safe space for people to come forward will work in your favour- remember the faster you know about it, the faster you can respond to it.

Alternatively, explore how your firm can add additional layers of defence by eliminating the possibility of a phishing attack altogether from the root of the cause – email correspondence. When it comes to what goes in and out of the firm, there is no 100% guarantee of pure security as it’s impossible to truly monitor what is happening in an employee’s inbox 24/7. The best you can hope for is to significantly minimise the chances of getting caught out. In this new age of legal IT, the increasing saturation of various applications coming to market with the lack of interconnectivity could mean hackers have a better chance to exploit a firm’s current defence.

We predict a huge shift towards a completely integrated, secure, cloud-based legal platform, that can act as a utopia for efficiency, reporting and a network effect for the community. These platforms will provide huge opportunities for change and a more secure working environment and by adopting the use of portals, we are set to replace the need for emails as they can completely neutralise the possibility of an attack through the secure hub designed for not only client and solicitor communication, but also a multitude of other reporting and transactional features.

We saw a massive increase in security threats when lockdown initially began, and we predict that this will continue for many firms over the next year. Perhaps now is the time to think about a change in security procedures as well as your team’s mindset and habits – exploring various methods to keep your firm safe is what is needed now.

What’s new?

Web Integrations and solutions to make an impact

Your online presence could perhaps be one of your most important building blocks to help you stay up and running. As clients can no longer visit a firm’s office, the website will be the first point of contact, ensuring its effectiveness against some of the larger firms is vital for ensuring your firm does not get left behind. There are various web-based integrations that have been designed to keep your firm futureproof and performing at its best 24/7. Take a look at some of our website integrations and solutions to provide your clients with a modern, convenient, and effective way to stay engaged with the firm as well as provide your firm with an efficient streamlined approach to transform how it works and stand out from the competition!

Microsoft Teams corporate backgrounds

In this new-found business world, we all now have a daily obligation to attend and make video calls, but how often have you thought carefully about the background screen which sits behind you – often I would guess!

It is very unlikely that you would invite a promising prospect or respected client into your office without ensuring that the environment you will be in is up to standard with everyone’s liking, a video call should be no different. Whether you are on a call to a new or existing client, or if you are on your daily meeting with the team, one thing remains certain – maintaining a professional background is essential to portray your high-quality service.

Accesspoint have taken the lead to create clean, modern and high-quality corporate backgrounds for your firm to display under any situation.

Creating a professional corporate background couldn’t be easier!

Choose your preferred office background from our list of design

Upload a high-resolution copy of your corporate logo and make your purchase

Our Graphic Artists will 3D Vector your corporate logo onto your chosen background and issue it to you via email, within 3-5days.

Click here to order your corporate background

Website Payment Portal

Accesspoint’s Payment Portal is deployed as a secure, easy-to-use standalone portal that can be integrated with your website to facilitate client payments for greater efficiency and convenience.

There are many reasons as to why your firm should explore integrating a payment portal with its website. Offering your clients a speedy, convenient and secure option to pay their fees will ensure your firm gains a competitive edge as well as a greater level of assurance for the future.

The main features

Easy to use

Clients simply access the portal with a ‘Pay Invoice’ button on your website, hyperlinks on an email or even a hyperlink embedded into your pdf letter templates.

Once on the portal, simple default fields are required: payment amount, invoice number, client name and email receipt address. Once submitted, they are presented with a highly secure payment page in which card details can be entered and submitted.

Customisation

As standard, your portal will be customised to your firm’s branding, but we also provide a customisation service which allows you to edit the entire design to suit your requirements. Our portal is deployed with our standard data fields but can be customised to accept any data fields your firm requires.

Payment Gateways

Our portal integrates seamlessly with over 50 payment gateways such as Stripe, WorldPay, Sage, Global Payments and more. This allows us to integrate the portal with your current financial setup to create a streamlined payment process.

Security

The portal uses secure payment gateways to provide you with a PCI-compliant experience that works across browsers and devices of all sizes. No card details remain on the portal, sensitive data is tokenised and sent directly to the payment provider without passing through our servers so you remain PCI-DSS compliant at all times.

Discover Payment Portal for Law Firms

“Our new payment portal has had a huge impact when dealing with client payments. It’s now much easier for them to pay and it demonstrates our commitment to making their lives easier by using a convenient modern method, plus we benefit from more streamlined and traceable transactions. Accesspoint were very professional and a delight to work with”

– GC (Finance and Practice Manager) at Dawson Cornwell

“The payment portal for us really has been a no-brainer. It was up and running in January before the lockdown measures took hold, and has been an invaluable mechanism for ensuring that team members working from home have been able to provide a facility for clients to make payments and settle bills that are easy to reconcile for accounts purposes.”

– JL (Partner) at Luqmani Thompson & Partners