InfoStart

Why it is important to secure Law Firms? What’s they have in store that needs to be saved?

Law companies are incredibly appealing to hackers and thieves. The ill-intentioned will be drawn to law firms by valuable information, such as trade secrets, intellectual property, merger and acquisition details, personally identifiable information (PII), and private attorney-client-privileged material.

Despite these dangers, law firms have a legal obligation to secure their clients' data. If a law firm's security is breached, the implications can be severe, ranging from small humiliation to substantial legal difficulties, such as:

- Communications that have been hacked or have been compromised as a result of phished or compromised email accounts
- Ransomware has made it impossible to access company data (i.e., where hackers encrypt files and demand money to restore access)
- Leaks of personal or corporate information into the public domain (e.g., on social media)
- Loss of public and client confidence in a company
- Accusations of malpractice and litigation

It goes without saying that a law firm's professional reputation is crucial to their continuing success in obtaining customers and building long-term relationships, which are the lifeblood of the legal profession

Why is it is more critical than ever for legal firms right now?

According to the Access group:

Seventy-five percent of the legal firms surveyed said they had been the victims of a cyber assault.
Over £4 million in customer money was taken from 23 of those who were personally targeted.
The usage of external data storage medium was found to be unlimited in half of the companies.
25% of businesses do not encrypt their computers.

Protecting businesses from cyber-attacks are getting increasingly difficult. The sophistication of today's cybercrooks is steadily increasing. The 'industrialisation of cybercrime,' according to a 2016 BT-KPMG analysis, has seen clear proof that today's cybercriminals work for complex operations analogous to corporations, with human resources departments and research and development budgets. Since then, things have progressed much further. They are serious about their work.

The epidemic has only made matters worse. With the overnight homeworking revolution last year and all the new cyber problems that came with it, including a flood of Covid-related frauds, law firms need to be more on the ball than ever before, given the nature of the data they possess.

The firm's reputation is on the line

It goes without saying that a law firm's professional reputation is crucial to their continuing success in obtaining customers and building long-term relationships, which are the lifeblood of the legal profession. Warren Buffets, an American business entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist, is known for stating, "It takes 20 years to create a reputation and 5 minutes to destroy it." This remark has never been more relevant, given the constant cyber risks that all organisations, particularly the legal profession, confront.

What may law firms hope to gain from this blog?

As we approach 2022, I believe law firms must ensure that not only they are doing all possible to protect their clients' assets, data, and reputation, but also that their trusted technology partners and software providers are keeping up with cyber security as well. I also believe that firms should consider the bigger picture in terms of what cyber crime can do to law firm culture, as well as learn from the experiences of others in the legal industry, particularly those firms that have suffered the consequences of failing to act quickly enough to strengthen their cyber security.

After visiting 40 legal firms and collecting their thorough findings, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) presented its latest report on the thematic review of Information Security in September 2020. The goal of the evaluation was to determine the major reason(s) why law firms were failing to handle information security issues so that assistance could be provided. Although it is evident from the sample that most were following best practises and keeping their businesses safe, it is helpful and intriguing to examine the faults of some of those that were discovered, as well as how and why the problems happened.

Key takeaways:

1. Robust ISMS - A strong Information Security Management System should be in place in every legal practise today. Just over a quarter of the 40 organisations visited by the SRA for theme evaluations were judged to have acceptable cyber-related policies in place, leaving just over a quarter needing to improve their Information security status. Many of the suggestions in this blog will assist businesses in determining the foundation for implementing a new information security plan, as well as strengthening current policies and procedures. This is an activity that should be kept in mind at all times.

2. Training - It was stated that 20% of the businesses visited by the SRA for evaluations had never offered particular cyber training to their employees, and 50% had delivered it but had not recorded specifics and documentation of the training, indicating that there is still space for improvement. Of course, this type of training is essential in order for individual attorneys and companies to be able to sign off on their competency statements. The training records are required as proof that the whole law firm personnel is capable of acting in the best interests of clients and safeguarding their assets and money.

3. Securing Information - The SRA discovered that half of the 40 businesses examined permitted free usage of external data storage media, with 25% of businesses not encrypting their computers. The SRA suggested that rules and procedures reflect the dangers of enabling employees to utilise external storage media, including the possibility of viruses infecting the company and its clients, as well as the risk of compromising client data. Of course, a lack of encryption poses a particular risk to the security of client data for employees working on their devices at home, away from the office, or when travelling by public transportation.

4. Incident response management policy - According to the report's findings, seven major incidents that should have been reported to the body were not. An additional 24 businesses did not keep detailed records of cyber-attacks. Some businesses claimed to have kept records but were unable to show them when the SRA requested them, putting them at risk of being fined for deceiving their regulator.

5. Allocation budget for Information security - Setting up a budget for certain IT security risk areas shows that a company is serious about IT security. According to the research, five of the companies examined had cyber security budgets in place. The SRA questioned whether businesses consider cybercrime to be a high enough concern right now.

Tips on how to make IT more secure for lawyers who work from home

A. Incident management policy in place - Ensure that your homeworkers have a clear reporting system in place that they can use to officially report and register any security issues or difficulties so that the company's IT staff is fully aware of any potential threats to the company. People who do not work in IT may not understand the seriousness of an Information security threat, therefore if you don't make communication channels available and easy to use, the correct people may not be alerted early enough.

B. Enable 2 factor/mutifactor authentication wherever possible - If haven’t done it, please make sure to enable 2FA, be it login into the systems, workspace, any application, etc.

C. Proper policy in place for working from home staff - Law firms must ensure that its employees are aware of the dangers of utilising gadgets for business purposes outside of the office.

Make sure they're all running the latest operating system and application software, as well as anti-virus software. Make sure your employees understand how to keep their devices safe while they're away from the office, as well as how to report lost or stolen devices to the appropriate IT personnel as quickly as possible to keep your information safe.

It's definitely best to provide equipment for homeworkers rather than allowing BYOD (bring-your-own-device) so that you can keep track of "who, what, when, where, and how?"

D. Encrypting supplied devices - When you have employees that work from home, devices are more likely to be lost or stolen. Encryption is incorporated into most current devices these days, however, it may need to be configured or turned on. Ensure that any devices used by your employees at home are enabled to encrypt data at rest.

E. Use VPN - A Virtual Private Network (VPN) adds an extra degree of protection for home employees using your firm's IT resources, such as your practise management system, email system, and so on. If you already have a VPN, ensure sure it's up to date. If you're supporting additional home employees, you could require more licences, capacity, or bandwidth.

To guarantee that your/their device's traffic is encrypted and difficult for a cyber-criminal to intercept, they should avoid accessing free WiFi hotspots without a VPN. Law firms that use a hosted Practice Management Software solution on the cloud should ensure that their systems are completely patched and optimised. It's worth investigating whether you handle your own IT infrastructure in-house.

F. Training staff on IT risks - While human error is to blame for many of today's data breaches, it's also crucial to remember that your employees are your first line of defence. Regular training instils the correct abilities and behaviours in the workforce, and eLearning courses are great for providing critical training content of this sort remotely to homeworkers.

People may incorporate training into their day and use what they learn at work by completing modules on a 'little and often' basis. It also means that new hires who are now onboarding at home are empowered to expand their knowledge and follow security procedures from the outset. From a compliance standpoint, a strong learning management system (LMS) aids businesses in planning, tracking, and proving training, as well as directing employees to appropriate eLearning courses.

G. Device managment policy in place - Set up all of your home working devices with a uniform set up so that your IT staff may remotely lock or erase data from them using MDM (Mobile Device Management).