Small Law Firms and Their Data Are Extremely Vulnerable to Cyberattacks

Legal practices are not your typical target when it comes to cyberattacks — or at least they wouldn’t appear to be. While a large law firm can invest in adequate cyber protection, a very small business could find such an investment challenging. Fortunately, It doesn’t have to be this way.

In reality, legal practices deal with a lot of personal information that must be guarded, and any attacks that block its activity might be sufficient to drive it out of business.

It’s easy to understand why some types of businesses and industries appear to be more targeted by cybercriminals than others. After all, cyberattackers go after the money, right? Well, that’s not always the case. In some situations, the information obtained from a cyberattack can be extremely valuable.

Legal practices, especially smaller ones, handle vast amounts of sensitive client data. Maintaining client confidentiality has become increasingly difficult as phishing scams, data breaches, and ransomware attacks increase each year. There is a way out of this problem, and it doesn’t really require a lot of effort or financial investments.

Phishing attacks on law firms

Surprisingly, phishing is one of the most common attacks in the legal field. Cybercriminals pose as legitimate entities, tricking employees into divulging sensitive information or clicking malicious links.

Phishing attacks use social engineering to prey on trust and a sense of urgency. For example, an attacker can impersonate a senior partner and email an associate requesting sensitive client files or bank account information. If the associate is tricked, the cybercriminal gains access to confidential data.

Private information hitting the dark web opens the company to litigation and class action lawsuits, which can deal a major financial hit to a small legal practice. Fortunately, protecting against these types of attacks only requires a few measures.

• Employee training — regular cybersecurity awareness training is critical because employees must be able to quickly recognize phishing attempts.
• Endpoint protection – Devices need protection enabled at all times so that even if an employee clicks on a dangerous link or opens up an attachment, the danger is averted.
• Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) —MFA adds an extra layer of security, ensuring that even if login credentials are compromised, unauthorized access is prevented.

Data breaches

Data breaches can have serious consequences for small legal practices because it can expose client-sensitive information, including case files, intellectual property and financial records. Given the value of the information legal practices store, data breaches are among the most common security incidents they face. Again, protecting this data is paramount, and the risk mitigation costs pale in comparison to the damages that can be inflicted on the company by a cyberattack.

• Encryption — all client data should be encrypted both in transit and when stored. Encryption ensures that, even if data is stolen in an attack, ransomware for example, it remains unreadable without the proper decryption key.
• Zero-Trust Architecture – The business must adopt a zero-trust security model, in which every user and device is authenticated and authorized before accessing resources.

Ransomware

Ransomware attacks have been on the rise, with legal firms frequently targeted. In these attacks, cybercriminals encrypt a firm’s data and demand a ransom in exchange for its release, but a data breach often accompanies these attacks.

Ransomware is also one of the few cyberattacks that can close down a company if it goes on long enough, if the data stolen by criminals ends up online, or even if the firm simply has no backup system. In some situations, hackers have used the stolen data from legal cases and tried to extort people involved, such as witnesses.

Almost always, criminals use the stolen information to extort the companies, forcing them to pay so the client information doesn’t end up online on the dark web. Of course, there’s no guarantee the criminals won’t release the stolen data even if they are paid. The risk mitigation measures are straightforward.

• Regular Backups — maintain regular, encrypted backups of all critical data. Ensure that backups are stored offline or in a separate network.
• Endpoint Protection — use robust endpoint security tools (such as Bitdefender Ultimate Small Business Security) to detect and block ransomware attacks before they can encrypt files.
• Incident Response Plan – companies must prepare and regularly update an incident response plan so that the response to a cyberattack is already known. Scrambling to find solutions after the incident is not the ideal scenario.

Insider threats

While external threats receive the most attention, insider threats are another significant risk to client confidentiality. It’s usually some form of a data breach that involves employees doing something wrong or against company policies. It can be something innocuous, such as sending an email to the wrong address, or more serious, like using the same credentials on work and home computers, exposing the company to a more severe cyberattack.

• Employee training – whether it’s teaching them about phishing or about unintentional data breaches, training is the cornerstone of a cyber protection plan.
• Monitoring — Regularly monitor for unusual behavior, such as employees accessing files outside of normal working hours or from unknown locations.

A quick and easy solution

Small legal practices face growing cybersecurity risks, with phishing, ransomware, and data breaches threatening client confidentiality. Implementing strong cybersecurity measures is crucial, and Bitdefender’s Small Business Security provides a comprehensive solution with key features, including:

• Real-time threat detection to prevent attacks before they occur
• Advanced encryption to secure sensitive data
• Ransomware protection with automated recovery tools
• Email security to block phishing and spam attempts
• Account breach monitoring to alert of unauthorized access
• Secure VPN to protect communications
• Scam Copilot to help users quickly determine if a message they received is dangerous or not
• Much more…

Legal firms can significantly improve their defenses with this comprehensive security suite, ensuring both operational security and client trust, above all else.

Bitdefender Ultimate Small Business Security is an extended version of our consumer-friendly security suite that covers every attack scenario, protecting your firm’s precious assets before the bad guys set foot in your network. Best of all, it can be administered by anyone in your company – no IT skill set required. Visit bitdefender.com/solutions/small-business-security to see Bitdefender Ultimate Small Business Security in action.