Cyber Security Partners - To get something straight from the get go, cyber security is essential for everyone – but for some sectors, it’s more important than others.

The legal industry is one of those, and for anyone thinking of starting up or enhancing their legal business, there are some things you need to know about protecting your employees and customers online. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) report of June 2023 highlighted that there was a growing campaign against Law firms, given the volume and value of the data that they hold.

In this blog, we’re going to look at the key things you should take into consideration when it comes to cybersecurity for legal firms. Let’s run through a checklist of what you need to think about for your online defences:

Data protection

As a legal professional, you’ll know that you handle more sensitive information than anyone else. Whether it’s corporate data or deep insights into your client’s personal lives, no one handles more data than you. Your data protection obligations mean that you need to keep that data protected, and the best way to do so, is by having the best cybersecurity defences in place. Things that can help you with this are:

Clearly defined method of handling data and restricting access
Awareness of the risks both within your company and to your suppliers. (It should be noted that the NCSC also rates Managed IT service suppliers as having a high risk of cyber-attack).
Data encryption

Reputation

When it comes to legal firms, reputation is king. Your clients will come to you based on your reputation as practitioners who can operate at optimum capacity, without any security lapses in your day-to-day activities. What that means is that if you have a major data breach, many of your customers will look to competitors who have a previous reputation in staying safe online.

Protecting your reputation as a cybersafe business, is a must to avoid losing your customers. That’s why investing in specialists who can make your firm watertight is always worth the money. Your reputation as a cyber-proof business is invaluable for keeping the clients rolling in. Area’s you could look at to assist in maintaining and improving your cyber reputation are:

The Cyber Essentials Scheme – get your cyber status verified and accredited by an independent organisation.
An accredited information management system (ISO27001) – usually for larger organisations, but any organisation can be accredited to these standards if they maintain the appropriate records.
Due diligence of your supplier – Are they accredited to a particular standard?
Awareness training – If you staff are confident in how data is protected, they have no issue with making it clear to your clients how data is protected.

Targeting

In a similar vein as our first point on this list, the fact that legal firms contain so much sensitive information makes them highly profitable for hackers and cybercriminals. These felons love to get their hands on personal data so that they can sell it to other firms who will directly target individuals. This means that legal firms need to be extra vigilant against possible breaches. They, often more than any other sector, need to have the defences to protect data and the measures in place to follow up potential issues. This is to stay safe against the criminals who may have your organisation down as a priority target. Make yourselves a difficult target by the following methods:

Proudly announce if you have a security accreditation – If there are 4 doors but only three of them have alarms on, which one do you think the felons will pick?
Monitor the access points – Home working is so prevalent these days, be sure that the door isn’t too wide open.
Monitor the exit points – If someone is going to steal data, they have to get it out of your organisations. Make sure you watch the exits as well as the entrances.

Hopefully you have found this brief guide useful and it has made you think of where and when your data moves. Remember that the best security monitoring tool you have is you and your staff. They know when something doesn’t look right or normal, so encourage them to put their hand up, rather than being pressured to just “get things done”.

Anastasiia Nahirna Kevin Else

Sales Manager Consulting Director

T: 0113 5323763 T: 0113 5323763

M: 07842018865 M: 07962289255

Anastasiia.Nahirna@csp.partners Kevin.Else@csp.partners

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