Lawyers
Applies to: France
Encrypted file exchange for law firms
Documents for clients, colleagues or experts – sent encrypted, with proof of when they were downloaded.
- Developed & operated in Germany
- End-to-end encrypted
- Professional secrecy in our contract
- Signed proofs of delivery
What your professional rules require
Disclosure of secret information by a person entrusted with it by virtue of their status or profession is punishable by up to one year’s imprisonment and a fine of up to €15,000.
In all matters, whether advice or defence, consultations, correspondence with the client and between lawyers (except correspondence marked “officielle”), interview notes and all documents in the file are covered by professional secrecy.
Professional secrecy applies whatever the medium, including electronic communication. Lawyers ensure that their staff and anyone working with them professionally respect it, and are answerable for any breach.
Recommendation of the French data protection authority: encrypt sensitive files before sending them, and send the password through a different channel from the file.
How TEPHIA SECURE meets them
Contractual confidentiality
In clause 5b, our data processing agreement commits us to secrecy, limits access to what the service requires and binds everyone involved in writing. You conclude it electronically and receive a copy as a PDF. If data is seized or its disclosure is demanded, we inform you without delay so that you can assert professional secrecy.
State of the art
AES-256-GCM encryption in the sender’s browser, with the key derived from the password using Argon2id. The server holds no key and cannot read the contents.
No account needed for recipients
Recipients do not need an account. Clients and third parties can send you documents through an upload box, with the same protection and the same proof of delivery.
Verifiable proof of delivery
Each entry is cryptographically chained to the previous one. The proof of delivery is a signed PDF/A with a timestamp from an independent time-stamping authority.
How your proofs are secured
| In every planSignature with our certificate | Add-on · coming soonQualified electronic seal | |
|---|---|---|
| Any change to the PDF invalidates the signature | included | included |
| Timestamp from an independent authority | included | included |
| Hash chain with daily chain seal | included | included |
| Checksum (SHA-256) of every file, confirmed by the recipient | included | included |
| Verifiable online, without an account | included | included |
| Display in Adobe Reader | “Validity unknown”1 | Valid |
| Legal presumption of authenticity (Art. 35(2) eIDAS) | not included | included |
| Useful for | Your records, clients | Courts, authorities, the other party |
1 Not an error: our certificate is not on the EU trust list that Reader recognises. You can check integrity online or using the certificate fingerprint.
- Signature: any change is detected
- Timestamp from an independent authority
- Hash chain with daily chain seal
- Checksum of every file, confirmed by the recipient
- Verifiable online, without an account
- Adobe Reader shows “Valid” instead of “Validity unknown”
- Legal presumption of authenticity (Art. 35(2) eIDAS)
- Useful for courts, authorities, the other party
There is no certification of services like this by a professional body, and carefully selecting a service provider remains your responsibility under your professional rules.
The information on the legal position on this page is general information, without any warranty as to completeness or currency, and does not constitute legal advice. Only our contracts are binding.