There is a plethora of information out there for hackers to target, and no industry is safe, especially law firms. Law firms hold valuable client information including sensitive data which any firm would pay millions to retrieve. Due to new regulations, it is pertinent for law firms to understand their responsibility to protect the data they hold.
Facing Reality
For those who have been following the news, a number of large firms have been hit by data crises that have cost them massive sums of money, in addition to damaging their reputations. The number of attacks on law firms is only increasing through the years. According to Barkley, roughly 80 percent of the largest firms experienced a breach in 2018. If there isn’t a change in the amount of security a law firm puts in place, then this vulnerability will continue to lead to firms being consistently hit with breaches.
Going Into 2019
Keeping a set of guidelines for employees to follow is one of the best defense mechanisms. As we have said before, your employees are either your biggest asset or your biggest weakness in the fight against cyber attacks. If employees understand that they are the first line of defense, meaning they are able to catch red flags and immediately report them, then the most common kinds of breaches through phishing emails will be eliminated. Another email scam that has become increasingly popular is pretext emails. According to Above The Law, this is an email that affects mainly real estate lawyers in the final stages of completing a transaction. They appear to be from opposing counsel informing of a change in information relating to the deposit bank account for the transaction. In many of these attempts, the funds are transferred before they are recognized as fraud. Being aware of the tactics that hackers are using sets the floor for a successful offensive cybersecurity plan.
We’ll leave you with this quote by Robert Mueller, former attorney and former Director of the FBI: “I am convinced there are only two types of companies: those that have been hacked and those that will be. And even they are converging into one category: companies that have been hacked and will be again.”
If you are interested in bolstering your cybersecurity, check out MDL Technology’s website.
