Law firms have a duty to protect their client’s confidential information it is an ethical and fiduciary responsibility. The costs associated with a law office’s cyber breach are more than the loss of customer confidence. This post explains what they are.
Following the news that many the nation’s premier legal firms were hacked to find confidential information along with the Panama Papers scandal helped make law firms understand the need to beef up their cyber security to protect their own confidential files as well as those related to their clients. While client confidentiality is important to all attorneys, cyber breaches can result in significant damage and costs to a law office.
The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara had this to say recently about the attractiveness of law firms to cyber criminals following the Chinese attack at several law firms:
“This case of cyber meets securities fraud should serve as a wake-up call for law firms around the world: you are and will be targets of cyber hacking because you have information valuable to would-be criminals.”
The Costs of a Data Breach at a Law Firm
While most data breaches are preventable, some are not. Nevertheless, if a firm is breached, it will lose clients who view the breach as a failure of the firm’s fiduciary and ethical responsibilities. Finding new clients also becomes more difficult following a data breach.
One way to make sure that your firm’s cyber security is state-of-the-art is to engage a managed security service provider in handling your cyber security.
Compunet InfoTech is an experienced provider of IT security managed services. We are in Vancouver and can be reached at (604) 986-8170 or info@compunet.ca.
Performance-driven professional with 20+ year record of demonstrated success driving significant growth in sales and revenue for products and services. Identify market needs and implement innovative strategies to capture new business. Engaging and articulate presenter with a talent for delivering winning product and sales presentations to a diverse client base.