Legal Dangers Lurking in Anonymous Links: What Attorneys Need to Know
Written by:
Donna M. Medrek
Senior Director @BlueStar | Legal Technology Consulting | Super Connector | Neurodiversity Child Advocate | First Gen 🇵🇱
May 23, 2025
Sharing files through anonymous links-those URLs anyone can access without logging in-can be convenient, but they come with some real legal headaches, especially for law firms and their clients.
What Can Go Wrong?
1. Data Security Risks: If anyone with the link can see or change sensitive documents, you’re opening the door to potential data breaches. This can put you at odds with privacy laws like GDPR, CCPA, or HIPAA. For example, a simple mistake with sharing permissions in tools like SharePoint or Box could accidentally expose private client information.
2. No Accountability: When you share a link anonymously, you lose track of who’s accessing or sharing your files. If something gets leaked, deleted, or tampered with, it’s tough to find out who did it-making investigations and legal defense much harder. There’s also a risk of defamation or the spread of confidential info through these links.
3. Compliance Nightmare: Regulations like GDPR and CCPA require you to track who accesses personal data. Anonymous links bypass those logs, making compliance nearly impossible. Plus, if you mislabel data as “anonymous” when it’s just pseudonymized, you could face fines.
How to Protect Yourself and Your Clients
1. Monitor & Educate: Remember activity logs provide visibility into HOW, WHEN, and by WHOM these links are used-even when the user’s identity isn’t directly known. At BlueStar, we've used activity log analysis to empower legal professionals to gain actionable insights into data access and usage, all without the need for complex IT involvement or intrusive data collection. This unique approach has enabled us to:
Detect and prevent employee data theft.
Identify and address inappropriate employee behavior.
Streamline employee offboarding workflows.
*This is our secret weapon for fast, simple, and cost-effective Early Data Analysis (EDA)!
2. Limit Access: Disable and deny; disable the ability to use anonymous links. Only give “view” rights to outside parties and require multi-factor authentication (MFA) for edits.
3. Update Your Contracts: Make sure your agreements require partners to avoid anonymous links for sensitive info.
4. Set Expirations & Passwords: Make links expire and use passwords for extra security.
5. Use Secure Tools: M365 and Box offer authenticated sharing by default; use those instead of open links.
Real-World Data Breaches Linked to Anonymous or Unsecured Links
1. First American Financial Corp. (2019) First American’s breach happened because of a simple but dangerous flaw: anyone could change a number in a document URL and instantly access private files-no login needed. This meant sensitive information like bank statements, Social Security numbers, driver’s license information, and wire transfers-885 million records in all-were left wide open. The real problem? There was nothing stopping someone from stumbling onto confidential client data just by tweaking a web address.2
2. Exactis (2018) In the Exactis case, the company left a massive database sitting on a public server with no password or encryption. Anyone who found the server could access detailed personal information-everything from religion and income to children’s names. In total, 340 million records were exposed. It was as simple as typing in the right web address; no authentication required. 3
3. Sociallarks (2021) Sociallarks’ breach was caused by an unsecured ElasticSearch database that was accessible to anyone on the internet. Because there was no authentication or encryption, 200 million social media profiles-including data from Instagram and LinkedIn-were scraped and left exposed. 4
What Do These Breaches Have in Common?
No Authentication: In each case, there was no system in place to verify who was accessing the data. Whether it was open URLs or unprotected databases, anyone could get in.
Massive Scale: Each breach exposed the personal information of hundreds of millions of people, all because basic security steps were skipped.
Regulatory Trouble: These incidents often violated major privacy laws like GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA, putting the companies at risk of hefty fines and legal action.
Lesson Learned: Skipping basic security measures can lead to huge breaches and serious legal consequences!
While anonymous links make sharing easy, the legal and compliance risks often outweigh the convenience. Attorneys should encourage clients to use authenticated sharing, set clear policies, and keep a close eye on who’s accessing what. It’s a safer way to protect both your clients and your practice.
If you would like to learn more about risk management strategies for your Microsoft 365 data, please reach out!
*A special thank you to Sarah Thompson, CEDS, whose generous help and expert advice were instrumental in shaping this article. I am truly grateful for her time, encouragement, and thoughtful feedback.
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