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Six Best Practices for Protecting Law Firm Data

According to the American Bar Association’s 2022 Legal Technology Survey Report, 27% of legal practices have experienced a data breach. With sophisticated, organized cybercrime on the rise, law firms face an even bigger risk in protecting valuable information. Whether the attack happens through accidental employee error, a lost electronic device, or a data breach, law firms face intense pressure to protect confidential data from bad actors.

Reputation and trust are paramount for the legal industry. And while data breaches have devastating consequences for law firms, clients are negatively impacted as well. Trade secrets, intellectual property, merger and acquisition details, confidential attorney-client privileged conversations, and personally identifiable information (PII) are just a few of the damaging assets potentially exposed to hackers and criminals.

6 Best Practices to Secure Law Firm Data

If hardware is outdated, data is not backed up, or the firm still heavily relies on paper, it might be time to take a hard look at your IT infrastructure – and data security is a core component. Here’s where to start to protect your law firm data.

1. Implement a Strong Data Security Policy

A comprehensive data security policy is the foundation of client trust, improved confidentiality, and enhanced regulatory compliance. It serves as the cornerstone for maximizing your cybersecurity posture and should include clear business objectives and priorities, along with formalized documentation on risk management policies, data classification, encryption, physical security, awareness training programs, and an incident response plan.

Sound daunting? It can be. Many law firms elect to engage a cybersecurity expert to build policies and cybersecurity frameworks that take into account the company’s budget, individual threats, and industry landscape.

2. Enforce Strong Passwords

Common password mistakes, like using the same password on multiple platforms, making passwords personal like a birthdate, and not storing passwords correctly, are simple errors with big consequences. To act as a first line of defense against data risks, implement key measures like multi-factor authentication, verified password managers, routinely changing passwords, and encouraging passphrases instead of simple passwords.

3. Regularly Evaluate Your Cybersecurity Posture

In 2017, global mega-firm DLA Piper paid its IT staff 15,000 hours of overtime to recover from a malware infection. Beyond the financial implications, DLA Piper’s reputation with clients took a major hit.

Cybersecurity is not one-and-done, especially as technology and threat vectors rapidly advance. As a highly-targeted audience law firms must regularly assess and audit their cybersecurity posture to prevent long-lasting consequences.

TPx recommends partnering with a reliable managed services provider (MSP) with deep experience in the legal industry to alleviate the burden on internal IT teams and ensure you have core components like regular security assessments and automatic backups in place to mitigate your risk.

4. Purchase Cyber Liability Insurance

For improved peace of mind, increased regulatory compliance, and financial protection and coverage, cyber liability insurance is a must-have. While it doesn’t reduce your risk on its own, cyber insurance for law firms can be instrumental in covering the costs of data recovery, restoring compromised systems, damages due to business interruptions, and any legal or regulatory defense.

But take note: cyber insurance providers are stringent when it comes to policy adherence and claims are often not paid out. Think of cyber liability insurance as a key layer of protection – like wearing a seatbelt – but not one that can singlehandedly save you – driving recklessly with a seatbelt is still dangerous!

5. Perform Regular Employee Security Awareness Training

Employees and clients can be your biggest weakness when it comes to cybersecurity, whether through accidental disclosures that lead to breaches or through falling for common attacks, like phishing.

This prevalent cyberattack method can be mitigated through proactive security awareness training. Proactive training helps users build vigilance against common threats. In fact, data shows that effective security awareness training can drastically reduce clicks on phishing emails.

6. Don’t Neglect Patch Management

More than half of all data breaches are due to poor patch management – the process of updating firmware and hardware to improve functionality, tighten security standards, and optimize performance. Patch management is especially critical for law firms because attorneys and employees use many devices and work on a wide range of devices.

Manual patch management can quickly fall behind and snowball, leading to weak links that provide attractive points of entry for hackers. Instead, implement an automated tool with continuous scanning to search for patches, reducing the need for human intervention.

TPx understands the unique challenges facing law firms, allowing attorneys to focus on client acquisition and relationships. Not only do improved IT and security functions automate manual activities and increase productivity when billing hourly, but enhanced data security helps maintain a competitive edge. For affordable, robust security implementations for law firms, get in touch with us today.