Is your law firm safe from cybersecurity threats? This past year, COVID-19 sped up an already growing need for digital shifts in businesses across industries. For lawyers though, this meant replacing normal in-person offerings like client consultations with online options. But an increase in online activity means an increase in online threats. And since technology changes so rapidly, keeping up-to-date on any cyber risks is essential for keeping your law firm and proprietary business data safe.
Keep reading to learn 5 essential pieces of information lawyers and law firms need to know about cybersecurity in order to keep your law firm safe online.
5 Things Lawyers Need to Know about Cybersecurity
- Digital is Here to Stay: Even as COVID-19 restrictions are lifted and organizations reopen their doors to the public, clients still wish to interact online. And without proper precautions in place, implementing digital operations could make your organization increasingly vulnerable to cybercriminals—potentially resulting in costly attacks, devastating interruptions, and reputational damages.
- Law Firms Are Attractive Targets: Law firms actually have a reputation for being easy to hack, making them appealing targets to data thieves. They are also desirable because they store a large amount of sensitive material about clients, lawsuits, and the firm itself. These materials could include details about high-profile lawsuits, business deals, mergers, and acquisitions. Information like this could be leaked or sold to the media, the opposing party in a lawsuit, or other interested parties.
- It’s Essential to Know Your Risks: Firms are more prone to attack if they exhibit a weakness that attackers know how to exploit. Before you can begin to protect yourself you need to know what exactly your exposures are. Conduct a cyber risk assessment to analyze the cyber exposures that could accompany your digital operations.
- Once You’re Aware, Minimize Any Exposures: If your firm’s network can be accessed remotely, and if a portable device used to access it is left in an unlocked car, forgotten in a hotel room, or lost at the airport, it would be easy for a data thief who picks up the device to access your network and the information on it. Restrict which employees have access to your data and ensure they are taking precautions to protect it.
- Be Proactive by Establishing Workplace Policies and Procedures: Use the risk assessment to develop policies and procedures that can help limit your organization’s cyber exposures. This may include further employee training, extra authentication measures, additional data backup protocols, new security software, and a cyber response plan — should an incident happen.
Stay Safe With Cyber Liability Coverage for Your Law Firm
Of course, the number one thing you need to know about cybersecurity is that there is help out there. Cyber liability insurance is specifically designed to address the risks that come with using modern technology. And at Pasadena Insurance Agency, we have experts who know exactly how to help your law firm be protected from the liabilities and risks that come with running your own law practice.
Since cyber risks and exposures are a relatively new threat for law firms, and the methods hackers use to access your network or cloud system are constantly changing, it’s important to get the facts on cyber liability for law firms and then, contact Pasadena Insurance Agency, Inc.
Get in touch today to talk about your cyber risks and learn how you can protect your firm and clients. We are Houston’s top experts in Lawyer Professional Liability.
We would be happy to shop your policy for a better and lower-priced option. We offer insurance options across multiple providers to get you the right coverage for your firm and save you time.