Law firms are privy to sensitive client information that cybercriminals would love to get their hands on. The ramifications of a data breach or cyber attack can be severe and damaging to both the firm and its clients.
To help prevent these risks, your staff must be well-trained in cybersecurity best practices. Your firm must have a security policy and require ongoing training to do this.
Educate Your Employees
Law firms are often prime targets for cybercriminals because of the highly sensitive and confidential client information they manage. As such, legal professionals must take cybersecurity seriously. A breach can damage a firm’s reputation, cause financial penalties and potentially result in significant loss of business.
To help prevent a data breach, all employees should be provided with ongoing education and training on cybersecurity best practices. This can include phishing awareness training, implementing strong passwords, and incident response planning. Regular security evaluations, such as vulnerability scans and penetration testing, should be conducted for cybersecurity for law firms.
Many cyber attacks are due to employee error. The ABA’s 2019 Cybersecurity Tech Report found that 85% of all cyberattacks involve an employee mistake. All employees should be educated on recognizing a phishing email and reporting any suspicious activity or potential security concerns to their supervisors to prevent this.
A robust law firm cybersecurity strategy should include tools like firewalls, anti-virus software, encryption, and multi-factor authentication. Additionally, all technology should be updated and patched regularly to prevent vulnerabilities that cybercriminals can exploit. In addition, all software systems and databases should be secured and classified based on their sensitivity. This helps prioritize and apply stronger security protections to those with the highest risk.
Create a Culture of Security
As cyber threats to your firm’s data grow, fostering a security culture becomes more important. This starts with clarifying that cybersecurity is a non-negotiable part of the law firm’s mission and vision. This should be communicated from the top down, from the CISO and CSO to each employee.
Once staff understands why cybersecurity is a priority, it’s easier for them to buy into the training program and keep up with best practices. This means implementing security awareness training, simulated phishing attacks, and other exercises to reinforce best practice behaviors.
It would be best if you also made it a point to commend and advance employees who consistently uphold the highest security standards. This may be accomplished in some ways, including paid time off, gifts for their preferred charity, swag, and public acknowledgment.
Another great way to create a security culture is to implement a system for reporting potential cyber breaches. This will give employees a place to turn in concerns about suspicious activity and the need for updates, and it will help your firm respond quickly to incidents.
Create a Security Policy
In the world of law, attorneys spend years studying and gaining knowledge about the laws they practice. This is important because it gives lawyers the knowledge they need to represent their clients effectively. Law firms need to apply the same level of commitment to securing confidential information and strengthening their cybersecurity.
Developing security policies is one of the greatest methods to do this. These ought to be detailed plans that outline the ideal that all organizational activities ought to strive for. In addition to assisting with employee and company protection, they strongly state the organization’s dedication to security.
In addition to a security policy, it’s a good idea to have a backup plan in case of a natural disaster or cyber incident. This will allow your law firm to maintain business continuity and avoid losing sensitive information and client data.
Also, communicate to your employees the importance of keeping their passwords secure and never sharing them. It’s a shame how many people share their law firm ID and password with coworkers or use the same one for multiple accounts. This is a huge security risk because hackers can easily build databases of stolen credentials and then use those to breach other systems.
Require Training
Law firms have a lot of confidential and sensitive client data, making them a prime target for cybercriminals. It is important to educate and train employees on protecting the firm’s data from threats like ransomware, hacktivists, or even phishing emails.
One of the most important ways to protect your firm is to create an incident response plan that includes procedures and responsibilities for how the firm will respond in the event of a security incident. This plan should also be tested and practiced using tabletop exercises.
Many cyber attacks are due to simple human error. For example, sharing or reusing passwords across multiple devices is a security risk. Proper training can prevent these errors, reducing risks and the likelihood of a security incident.
In addition to the training outlined above, your firm should have a team of professionals who can provide ongoing cybersecurity support and services for your law firm. They can conduct security risk assessments, vulnerability scans, and penetration tests and monitor your network for unusual activity. They can also perform ongoing malware prevention and anti-virus scanning and implement other best practices, such as implementing two-factor authentication for logins and a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy to limit access to firm data by outside sources.
