Cybersecruity for Law Firms

Law firms are facing grave privacy and security risks. Although a number of firms are taking steps to address these risks, the industry as a whole needs to grasp the severity of the risk. For firms, privacy and security risks can be significantly higher than for other organizations. Incidents can be catastrophic.

More attorneys are falling prey to various ruses that take advantage of their desire for revenue, as well as a lack of knowledge of banking terms.

Law firms are not immune from cyber threats. In fact, they are increasingly targeted by nations-states and cybercriminals. As the cyber focus shifts towards law firms, the number of breaches will continue to rise. Here are some lessons law firms can learn from recent high-visibility government data breaches.

It’s time for law firms to wake up and make cybersecurity a top priority at all firms. Here are some steps to get ahead of the issue.

As cyberattacks on law firms increasingly take on an air of inevitability, though their accounts are largely anecdotal, new questions center on how to respond to breaches of sensitive materials and how to responsibly disclose these incidents without jeopardizing client relationships, and running afoul of professional codes.

Law firms of all sizes are falling prey to hackers and Internet scams. Now the New York City Bar Association has released an ethics opinion clarifying that lawyers must report hacking or other breaches of their computer systems. The opinion makes clear that lawyers don't violate their ethical obligations by reporting cyberfraud to enforcement authorities.

Think you don’t need cyber insurance? Think again. Big Law is a big target for cyber thieves, experts warn. For starters, law firms are viewed by criminals as low-hanging fruit — because firms are perceived as having “relatively lax security as compared with their sophisticated corporate clients.”

This article discusses why lawyers are at risk, how to create and implement best practices, and the advantages of cyber privacy and technology (CPT) insurance coverage rather than (mistakenly) relying on professional errors and omissions and/or general liability coverage in the event of a CPT incident.

Lawyers hold some of their clients' most private communications, which makes them a top target of all hackers. As technology competence becomes the required norm, lawyers need to understand not only how to protect their clients' information but how to react if a cyber attack does happen.

Law firms are the caretakers of highly confidential information, and cybersecurity has become essential to the ethical and practical responsibilities that the legal profession owes its clients.

Cybersecurity is big worry for law firms. Confidential information is entrusted to law firms by their clients, and hackers are starting to notice. Law firms of all sizes need to get serious about cybersecurity. Most states' ethics rules are not looking for perfect security, but reasonable efforts on the lawyer's part to secure information.

The need for better cybersecurity, along with the responsibility to safeguard client and firm information from the risk of loss from cyberattack, has been the focus of considerable discussion by law firms for the past four years. While some law firms have recently awakened to this key issue, significant further work needs to be undertaken.