It feels as if we learn of a new cyberattack against a law firm nearly every week. Law firms of all sizes are a prime target for hackers, especially given the bounty of sensitive information you hold on individuals and businesses. U.S. Legal Support found that 20% of law firms were a target of an attempted cyberattack last year!

Law firms are not only a prime target, they’re also a vector for intrusions into other companies. Take, for example, a recent incident in which the food giant Mondelēz International saw the personal data of more than 51,000 employees improperly accessed. However, the attackers didn’t end up infiltrating Mondelēz’s systems. Instead, the breach happened because of an intrusion at a law firm that was providing legal services to the food and snacks company. Just imagine the public relations nightmare this would unleash at your own law firm. 

As law firms continue to adopt and rely on digital technologies, we expect these incidents to continue apace. In the year ahead, it’s imperative that you invest in robust measures to safeguard sensitive client information. 

We’re here to help you make sense of things. In this post, we highlight the top cybersecurity risks you’re likely to face in the year ahead, including phishing attacks, ransomware, cloud security issues, and insider threats. Knowledge is a powerful defense. Please read on—you’ll be better prepared to stop an attack, protect your reputation, and safeguard your clients’ confidentiality.

Law Firm Risk #1: Phishing Attacks and Social Engineering 

Phishing attempts are particularly dangerous because they’re designed to fool you and your team—and it can all happen in an instant. For example, a law firm in Canada received an email that appeared to be a legitimate message from a partner working on a major acquisition. The fake email contained an attachment with hidden malware. When an employee at the law firm opened the email attachment, it infected dozens of devices across the firm. The outcome of the attack could have sabotaged the entire acquisition.

In a previous post, we shared three of the most common traits of a phishing attempt. Training your team to spot a potential phishing attack could be the key to protect your firm:

• Look for overly urgent subject lines. Beware of subject lines with a high sense of urgency. Some of the most popular phishing email subject lines include “Official Data Breach Notification” and “Your Password Expires in 24 Hours” or “Please Read: Important Revisions to Vacation Policy”.

• Beware of any email asking for money or payment. Watch for unexpected or unusual requests for payment or personal details. No legitimate business partner or colleague will ask you for login credentials or financial information in an email.

• Watch for suspicious domain names. Phishing emails look important, and they appear to come from a known and trusted person or business. Take a close look at the domain name of the sender. Often, these will vary slightly from a legitimate business (like Outloook.com, with three “o’s”).

Another rule of thumb is to make sure your law firm has sufficient email security enabled to effectively block malicious phishing attempts.

Law Firm Risk #2: Ransomware Threats

Ransomware is a type of malware that infects a computer and restricts access to it until a ransom is paid. We also see incidents of a “double extortion” model in which attackers not only demand a ransom to recover critical data, but also pressure victims to pay additional money or they’ll publicly share or even auction your data, which leads to further reputational costs. Another new form of ransomware is known as Maze, in which a victim is listed publicly on Maze’s website and the hackers demand two ransoms – one to get their data back, another to have it destroyed.  To date, at least five law firms have been a victim of a damaging Maze ransomware attack.

The best way to prevent a ransomware attack is a multi-pronged approach:

• Secure your endpoints. Consider a comprehensive endpoint detection and response solution to prevent attackers from entering your law firm’s network via multiple endpoints.

• Routinely patch your software. Keep your antivirus up-to-date and continue to patch all software to prevent attackers from exploiting known vulnerabilities.

• Block dangerous emails. Establish an email security and filtering system to help identify and block ransomware emails before they reach your users. 

• Back up your data. If you have a copy of all your data, an attacker can't really hold anything ransom. 

Another good rule of thumb: Don’t pay the ransom! Read more here. 

Law Firm Risk #3: Cloud Security Challenges

As a successful law firm, you understand the need for cloud-based tools to scale your business and serve your clients. A key benefit of cloud technology is that your critical data resides everywhere at once, with no additional hardware expenses. However, while cloud technologies can boost productivity, they can also put your firm at risk. At a minimum, you likely already back up your data to the cloud. One notable error is not backing up your backups. Today, we see sophisticated malware attacks specifically target backed-up data to maximize damage on firms of all sizes. The best way to protect your backed-up data is through a process known as immutable backups, which means that once your backup data is written, it can never be changed or deleted.

With immutable backups, your data can’t be read, modified, or deleted from your network. In general, look for a cloud backup service with built-in data security features, such as encryption while data is in transit, immutable backups, and strict security protocols at all physical server locations. Read more about the benefits—and risks—of cloud-based backups and security for your law firm. 

Law Firm Risk #4: Insider Threats

Even a trustworthy and highly functional law firm is not immune from an insider threat. The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) defines this as the “threat that an insider will use their authorized access, intentionally or unintentionally, to do harm to the department’s mission, resources, personnel, facilities, information, equipment, networks, or systems.” Insider threats can stem from anyone who has a connection with your firm, including lawyers, office employees, consultants, or even non-affiliated persons who you simply just trust. Even someone with a badge or physical access (like a custodian or repair person) can present an insider threat.

It can be challenging to identify an insider threat because it often stems from basic employee recklessness, carelessness, or poor training. However, an insider threat can also be an intentional and malicious act on the part of a disgruntled employee. You need to be able to spot an insider threat and respond quickly. Watch for stressed workers and odd behavior changes among your team and be sure to monitor unusual logins to thwart unauthorized access attempts.

At a minimum, you should educate all users on cybersecurity basics. It’s crucial that you and your staff stay vigilant and know how to spot and report potentially harmful emails and intrusions. (For more, here’s five cybersecurity training tips.)

N8 Solutions to the Rescue in 2024!

You run a busy and thriving legal firm. It’s understandable if you lack the resources or time needed to establish a robust cybersecurity program that protects your sensitive client data. Often, the best course of action is to partner with a trusted, expert third party, like N8 Solutions, on affordable cybersecurity measures and a customized employee training and awareness program.

A great place to start is with a risk assessment of your firm’s technology infrastructure. At N8 Solutions, we offer a free Network Security Assessment and Audit. We organize a discovery session with your team to review your technology environment, assess your network security, review your software and configurations, and provide a customized audit report with recommendations. And it’s all free with no commitment required.  Please reach out today to set this up. We look forward to a strong and secure year ahead!