Advancing technology means grand things for business owners, allowing them to reach a wider customer base, improve satisfaction, and ultimately create better customer retention. But with this surge in the use of technology, also comes the risk of data breaches. Cybersecurity events have been steadily on the rise, targeting almost every size business in any industry. While protecting your customer’s private and financial information is a top priority, so is ensuring that your financial, personal, and sensitive business information is protected as well.
Cyberattacks are a growing threat to law firms
Unfortunately, a prime target for cyber attackers is law firms. Law firms are the gatekeeper of valuable information, making them a prime target. A lawyer’s job is not only to advise their clients but to protect vital private information from threats wherever they come from. This means when choosing a law firm, you are tasking them with ensuring that your information is protected and that they have plans and protocols in place to prevent phishing, email compromise, and data exfiltration. If your law firm is not taking these crucial steps, then they are breaching their professional duty.
Why is it crucial that your law firm is protected?
If your law firm is the victim of a cyber attack, it can be disastrous for your company. Your sensitive information could be exposed, putting you at risk of insider trading schemes, a lawsuit by customers, ransom demands, and can damage your reputation in the eyes of your customers and other industry colleagues. Cyber attacks can be used to steal all types of information, including account numbers, customer lists, contact information, and identification numbers. There are also a growing number of cyber attackers who hold your data and make ransom demands with the threat of releasing it to the public if not complied with.
What is the lawyer’s cyber standard of care?
Lawyer’s are bound by a standard of care that means they are required to follow common law practices, ethical rules, contracts, and industry-specific regulations and laws that require them to protect the confidential information entrusted to them by their clients. Since cyber attacks are a more recent challenge that lawyers face, there are specific rules with how their standard of care is related to cybersecurity. Lawyer’s a required to not only stay on top of legal changes and practices but also on top of the new risks associated with the technology they use in their practice. This means that a law firm is now responsible for employing someone to be in charge of their technology and security, develop, implement, and maintain the necessary cybersecurity programs, monitor activity, and review reports of possible threats.
Ways your law firm should be protecting your confidential information
If you want to make sure that your confidential information is protected, it is important to make sure that your company’s law firm has a plan in place to thwart would-be cyber attacks and keep your information protected during an attempted breach. Your law firm should:
- Evaluate their security protocols on a regular basis to assess possible vulnerabilities.
- Have a data security plan in place that is followed by every employee in the practice and rectifies determined weakness in their security.
- Train their employees on how to handle data security and detect the presence of possible threats.
- Have data security protocols in place, such as encryption, secure networks use, and two-factor authentication.
- Install and maintain updated security patches, anti-virus software, and programs to detect malware.
- Perform regular scans as well as penetration tests to ensure that their programs are operating as they should.
- Have a cybersecurity incident response plan so that they can minimize the damage from an attack that gets through and make sure that you are properly notified and apprised of the entire situation.
- Have a cybersecurity information officer or security team that handles the information and monitoring of the security.
When you hire a lawyer, you task them with protecting your private and sensitive business information. This means finding the right law firm to protect your information form all types of threats no matter where they originate from. You need a firm that can not only solve issues when they occur but is also proactive at preventing those issues that can damage your business financially, or even worse, ruin your reputation in the industry. If you are looking for a firm who knows how vital protecting your sensitive information from word-be cyber attacks and other threats is, contact us at Goerlitz Law, PLLC. We focus on a business-oriented approach to law and understand the importance of confidentiality and security for all of our clientele.
