5 Essential Cybersecurity Practices for Law Firms

In today’s digital age, law firms face increasing cybersecurity risks with high stakes. Law firms hold a vast amount of sensitive and confidential client data, and a data breach can lead to significant reputational and financial damage. Therefore, law firms must implement effective cybersecurity practices to protect their clients and business data and maintain trust.

This blog aims to provide law firms and legal professionals with five essential cybersecurity practices they can adopt today to protect themselves from cyber threats. The article will also highlight how ISO 27001 and standards could be an excellent approach to implementing these practices and ensuring ongoing robust cybersecurity.

The Cybersecurity Risks Facing the Legal Sector 

According to a recent Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) report, 75% of law firms reported having been the victims of a cyber-attack between 2021-2022, and 23 UK law firms lost over £4m of client money as a result of a cyber-attack. In the US, the statistics don’t fare much better, with over 27% of firms reporting cyber attacks in 2022 and 48% not knowing if they had been subject to an attack, according to the American Bar Association. The majority of the attacks reported by firms in both the UK and the US fell into these three categories: 

Ransomware

The American Bar Association stated 60% of law firms listed ransomware as their top concern, and 40% reported experiencing more than three ransomware attacks in the last two years. These attacks involve hackers encrypting a law firm’s data, rendering it unusable until a ransom is paid. If the ransom is not paid, the hacker may threaten to delete or publish the data online, causing significant harm to the firm’s operations and client confidentiality. This can result in substantial financial and reputational damage, especially for law firms handling highly sensitive and confidential information.

DDoS Attacks

A DDoS attack’s sole focus is to overwhelm a law firm’s network with traffic causing it to crash and leading to delays in accessing critical data, compromising client proceedings and resulting in service outages. Moreover, DDoS attacks can distract while attackers deploy more malicious malware on the firm’s network to target data such as:

• Intellectual property
• Detailed Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
• Client confidential information
• Sensitive human resource information, including employee files
• Forensic data
• Merger and acquisition data, financial information, and business records

Third-Party and Supply Chain

Third-party providers and supply chain attacks pose another threat to the legal sector. Law firms rely on third-party providers for various services, including cloud storage and software applications. Any compromise in the security of these providers can lead to the malicious or accidental compromise of confidential client data, causing short to long-term service outages that can impact the firm’s operations and financial bottom line. According to the American Bar Association, 71% of law firms believe they are susceptible to supply chain compromise, with an average of 50% having suffered more than four supply chain attacks that prevented them from delivering services in the last two years.

Five Essential Cybersecurity Practices Legal Providers Should Implement Today

1. Understand Your Risk Landscape:

To be able to protect and secure an organisation against evolving cyber threats, that organisation needs to understand the security of its technology, the way it is accessed, where data sits and how it moves around the business, the nature and sensitivity of the data concerned, the people using it, the third parties who access/process it and the security policies in place, or not.
Once an organisation understands and has documented all these aspects, it needs to assess the potential risks to that information in each workflow and determine the appropriate controls to mitigate them.

2. Implement Controls: 

Once an organisation understands the data it holds and the risks, the next step is to implement straightforward controls to mitigate those risks. These fall into three clear areas of focus:

People Staff training is vital in building a culture of security awareness within your organisation. An organisation’s people are the first line of defence in protecting them from cyber threats. Practical training and education can be invaluable in ensuring a robust privacy culture.

A good training program should suit your company and specific goals and covers topics such as:

• How to manage data
• How cybersecurity applies to every staff member’s role
• How to recognise and report potential breaches
• Best practices to improve cybersecurity

Training is not a one-and-done activity; therefore, organisations must ensure regular additional training, engagement and procedures to ensure compliance with any updates or changes to regulation.

Processes One of the most potent tools available to organisations is an effective and accessible data privacy policy. An effective information security policy provides clarity and removes inconsistent behaviours at all levels of your business by clearly outlining what processes the organisation expects staff to follow, what’s prohibited, and who is responsible. 

A robust information security policy will: 

• Ensure data confidentiality, integrity, and availability, as well as data privacy   
• Reduce security incident risk and damage by outlining a precise incident response mechanism 
• Create operational information security frameworks within the organisation
• Provide quick responses and clear security statements to third parties, customers, partners, and auditors – influential customers want confidence in their supply chain
• Fulfil legal and compliance regulatory requirements

Technology Organisations should implement technical controls such as:

• Encryption – to secure sensitive information whilst it is being transmitted or sorted.
• Firewalls – to provide a barrier between internal and external networks, preventing unauthorised data access.
• Access control – to limit who can access sensitive information and what actions users can take with sensitive data.
• Intrusion detection systems – to monitor network activity for signs of malicious activity, alerting security teams to potential threats.

These technical controls help organisations protect their data, comply with relevant regulations, and reduce the risk of data breaches.

3. Ensure Continuous Development: 

the cyber threat landscape constantly evolves, and new threats and vulnerabilities emerge. Therefore, law firms must continually develop cybersecurity measures to keep up with and protect against the latest threats.
Cyber attackers often target vulnerabilities that have not been identified or addressed. Regular testing of security measures can identify any weaknesses or vulnerabilities much earlier, allowing law firms to take corrective action before an attacker can use them.

Regular testing and evaluation of cybersecurity measures can also ensure responses remain effective. As the business environment changes and new technologies are adopted, existing cybersecurity measures may become less effective or obsolete. Regular testing helps identify when actions must be updated or replaced to maintain effectiveness.

4. Follow Applicable Legislation:

The EU GDPR enforces a rigorous reporting and enforcement system, which may require businesses to report incidents to relevant regulatory bodies and affected customers whose data has been compromised, depending on the circumstances.
Businesses that fail to comply with their obligations may face significant fines not covered through insurance policies. The various regulatory bodies, such as the ICO in the UK, determine the fine amount by examining the technical and organisational security measures the business has implemented.

For instance, in the Tuckers case, the ICO determined that the starting point for a security breach caused by negligence was 3.25% of the annual turnover. It’s important to note that individuals affected by the breach are also entitled to compensation.

In the US, law firms are bound to follow the Model Rules of Professional Conduct established by the American Bar Association. These rules aim to ensure that legal services proceed ethically, efficiently, and safely.

Two of the Association’s Formal Opinions, namely 477R and 483, outline the mechanisms necessary to monitor data breaches, implement adequate security measures to prevent them, inform clients of any breaches, and address the consequences. These opinions also require lawyers to exert “reasonable efforts” to prevent unauthorised access to or disclosure of information relating to client representation.

There are also many data privacy regulations, and every country and US state has laws and recommendations. For example, California law firms must consider the California Consumer Privacy Act. In contrast, New York law firms must comply with regulations The New York State Department of Financial Services issued. In the UK, the Data Protection Act applies.

In addition, various industry acts and standards outline specific data protection requirements for different types of information. These include HIPAA for healthcare information, PCI DSS for financial and credit card data, SOX for accounting and investor information, and more.

While this array of regulations may seem overwhelming, most cybersecurity standards and regulations share similar requirements; therefore, by addressing these commonalities using frameworks such as ISO 27001, law firms can streamline their cybersecurity practices and ensure compliance across multiple regulations and standards.

5. Document Procedures:

To demonstrate compliance with the various legal obligations outlined above, businesses must maintain proper documentation of their cybersecurity practices. This documentation helps companies track their steps to comply with regulations and industry standards.

Furthermore, legal practitioners must consider the relationships between instructing solicitors, chambers, and self-employed barristers to ensure that the correct data controller and data processor contractual arrangements are in place. This is particularly relevant in cases where solicitors are now working as freelancers. Proper contractual arrangements help ensure that all parties involved in handling client data understand their respective roles and responsibilities in protecting it.

A Standards-Based Approach to Ensuring Cybersecurity In the Legal Sector 

For organisations looking to comply with the multiple cybersecurity, data and information security regulations in the legal space, certification against ISO 27001 could be a decisive first step.

An ISO 27001- compliant information management system (ISMS) enables organisations to reduce risk and exposure to security threats. It covers a broad range of information security controls, including policies, procedures, guidelines, and risk management practices. It also requires organisations to regularly assess their security posture, identify areas for improvement, and take steps to address any vulnerabilities or weaknesses.

ISO 27001 is also a flexible and adaptable framework, allowing organisations to tailor their security controls to meet the specific legal requirements that apply to their industry, location, and client base. By implementing ISO 27001’s requirements, law firms can meet the legal cybersecurity requirements that apply to their business. Additionally, the standard is regularly updated to reflect changes in the threat landscape, ensuring that organisations are prepared to address new and emerging cybersecurity risks.

Once established, adding additional GDPR, NIST and regional regulatory requirements is much simpler. ISO 27001 can also be independently certified, providing evidence to suppliers, stakeholders and regulators that you have taken the “appropriate and proportionate” technical and organisational measures.

The Legal Sector and Cybersecurity – Staying Compliant 

Implementing robust cybersecurity practices is essential for law firms to protect their client’s confidential information and maintain their reputation. The five critical cybersecurity practices outlined in this blog provide a strong foundation for law firms to establish effective cybersecurity protocols.

However, with the ever-evolving threat landscape, it’s essential for law firms to stay current with cybersecurity standards and regulations. ISO 27001 certification can help law firms meet legal cybersecurity requirements and assure clients that their data is protected according to the highest industry standards.

By implementing the five essential cybersecurity practices and obtaining ISO 27001 certification, law firms can take proactive measures to ensure they have the necessary controls to mitigate cybersecurity risks and safeguard their clients’ confidential information. In today’s digital age, cybersecurity is not optional, and law firms must prioritise it as a critical component of their business operations.

Strengthen Your Legal Compliance Today

If you’re looking to start your journey to better information security and data privacy, we can help.

Our ISMS solution enables a simple, secure and sustainable approach to information security with ISO 27001 and supercharges other frameworks such as HIPAA, GDPR and more. 

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