There are very few organizations that hold as much sensitive and highly monetizable data as those in the legal sector. The American Bar Association states that law firms are “custodians of highly sensitive information, therefore inviting targets for hackers… and are facing a major professional responsibility and liability threat.” If hackers break into a law firm’s system, they gain access to the sensitive and valuable data of not just the firm but all its clients. These systems may hold valuable data including business intellectual property, medical records, and even classified government information.
Cyber attacks are advancing in complexity and frequency and, as a result, 87% of law firms have seen an increase in the number of clients performing security audits on them, up from 72% in 2019. 62% of these audits have rated cyber threat levels at 70 or above. These include phishing, spear-phishing campaigns, ransomware, and man-in-the-middle attacks, often combining social engineering with advanced malware to outwit traditional defences.
Unfortunately, many law firms rely on employees to spot cyber attacks and phishing emails themselves, with only 36% of legal organizations committing to cyber insurance policies. Additionally, many law firms are in the dark about whether they’ve been breached or not. The ABA Legal Technology Survey Report found that the larger the law firm, the more likely they are to answer “I don’t know” to questions about breaches and their cybersecurity efforts. By the time they realize a breach has taken place, significant damage may have already been done.
For legal firms, a cyber breach can inflict more damage than just financial. Legal businesses are built upon strict confidence and trust from clients, and a breach, or just a potential breach, could seriously affect a firm’s reputation with their clients and within the industry. It could affect a case and put a client at a disadvantage, expose a company’s IP to a competitor, or even provide a backdoor to a clients’ system. For major law firms, the ability to secure clients’ data is vital to their standing in the industry.
With attacks constantly evolving, the legal sector needs to move away from placing the burden of spotting cyber attacks on employees, and instead employ sophisticated cyber threat intelligence sources that stop both known and potential threats. Firms also have to consider regulatory compliance; the implementation of standards and guidelines like The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) should be sufficient for firms to defeat a malpractice suit from a client whose data is breached.
CleanINTERNET
At Centripetal, we understand the risk to the legal sector and how cyber breaches affect firms of all sizes, which is why we developed our cyber threat intelligence solution, CleanINTERNET. CleanINTERNET aggregates, manages, and delivers thousands of cyber threat intelligence feeds directly to you, alleviating the burden on your security team and making your existing security tools more viable. Our zero-trust inspection of all traffic prevents network infiltration and data exfiltration, helping to mitigate the risk of non-compliance and the associated reputational damage. We offer immeasurable security at an affordable price, allowing your business to save millions of dollars on separate threat feeds.
Get in touch with a member of our team to talk about how your business can benefit from CleanINTERNET.
