Encryption can play a vital role in securing data, but it needs to be considered within the context of a firm's overall IT security strategy. Whether, when and how to encrypt requires a careful look at what data the firm keeps, and how much protection it needs. This article explains how encryption can be used to guard against the reputational, financial and legal damage a breach of sensitive data can cause to law firms.
Is Your Firm Truly Prepared?
Cyber attacks and theft are on the rise around the country, and law firms are becoming prime targets. Similar to healthcare providers, a law firm's data can be the gold standard. Unlike manufacturers, banks and retailers, law firms are unique organizations that result in them being highly vulnerable.
The Challenge of Complying
In a bid to assert control over cyberspace, China passed a sweeping cybersecurity law that affects virtually every company doing business in that country. Despite its broad reach and potential for disruption, it appears that very few legal professionals are aware of the law.
Part Two of a Two-Part Article
Astonishing computing power lets health care providers harness vast computing resources to drive their business plans, manage treatment protocols and crunch data to boost their practices. However, unintended consequences arise and, in the case of computers, one such consequence is cyber peril.
A survey of 200 U.S. firms found that many law firms are unprepared for cyber attacks, and it's hurting their standing with clients.
The cloud might seem like “someone else's servers,” but major vendors are sensitive to the business need for security, availability and confidentiality. With sensitive, high-value data like that, cloud providers are keenly aware they need to get security right.
Until May 12, 2017, the more highly publicized ransomware incidents were localized targets impacting only one or a small number of businesses. WannaCry made it clear that ransomware could reach a broad cross-section of computers worldwide, at essentially the same time. There are very few, if any, businesses that can safely say they are not targets for cyber-criminals, because at the very least, businesses have personnel records for their employees.
The ransomware attack on June 27 on DLA Piper sounded an alarm for Big Law. The world's biggest firms are just as prone to ransomware attacks as any other company, and the potential ramifications of a network-crippling malware infection are wide-ranging for a service industry that holds the legal fate of corporations in its palm.
Part One of a Two-Part Article
We often associate cyber-risks with financial institutions, but while the financial sector certainly does deal with cyber-risks, it is by no means the only industry facing such woes. Health care providers are also vulnerable to cyber-liability risks.
Following the May 2017 WannaCry ransomware infiltration into over 10,000 organizations and individuals in over 150 countries, it is clear that businesses across industries have no choice but to spend time and resources digesting and culling through the cybersecurity information barrage.
