Mitigating Risks at Professional Service Firms Using Artificial Intelligence

Internal threats are both more difficult to pinpoint and less often reported. The tools law firms had available in the past for their discovery were generally too weak to detect data loss in real time. Only a detailed forensic analysis was able to determine the scope and breadth after the fact. Often firms are simply not aware that documents are being purloined until it becomes evident through social media or by other actions of personnel who have left the firm with documents.

It is not unusual for attorneys to move from firm to firm, but there is an accepted method of transferring documents when leaving a firm in which the client needs to authorize the data transfer. However, sometimes documents are purloined without permission: an employee copies them to a USB drive, a flash stick or even emails them to a private address. Those documents of interest, the "juicy" documents, the billing records of a case and more can all be used or even sold to other parties. Occasionally, a person leaving a firm will even ask another employee to gather the data for them. These all constitute data leaks. A forensic expert can likely determine the extent of the data leak at a very high cost, but so far, only after the fact.