<b><i>Online Extra:</b></i> Phishing, Attacks Top Data Concerns of Law Firm CIOs

This year's survey finds firms taking some key steps to drive and benefit from this new line of defense. It also finds a clear explanation for why they are doing so: Security remains the No. 1 concern ' the biggest issue and the biggest headache ' for law firm CIOs. When we asked the chiefs what their top priority for the coming year was, nearly 60% said security or risk management. And more than three quarters of respondents (77%) said their firm was more concerned about security threats today than two years ago.

But this year's survey and follow-up interviews reveal that security isn't the only aspect of technology where firms' thinking and game plan has evolved. Mobile technology continues to be an important, promising area for enhancing productivity, but the focus is different from what it was just a couple of years ago. Then, with lawyers starting to bring in their own iPads and asking to use them for work, firms worried about how they would manage the new hardware and keep work-related and personal content separate. Now, with 83% of firms using mobile device management software, that challenge has largely been solved, and the focus has shifted to finding the 'optimal' mobile device. For many firms, the answer, it's turning out, is not necessarily an iPad, but something that more resembles ' or is ' an ultra-portable laptop. Less than a third of firms (31%) are buying their lawyers tablets, and of those that are, 89% are purchasing “laptop-like” Microsoft Surface Pros.