- Legal Futures - https://www.legalfutures.co.uk -

The rise of cyber-criminal threat for law firms since Covid-19

Posted by Legal Futures Associate Searchflow

Cyber attack: It has never been more important to put protective measures are in place

The global coronavirus pandemic, and the rise in people working from home, has unfortunately provoked a growth in cyber-crime. The UK government estimates that the cost of cyber-crime is £27bn per annum. [1]

The legal sector handles sensitive data and large financial transactions, which makes it an attractive target for cyber criminals, who are constantly looking for new ways to exploit any situation they can.

In September 2020, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) published its review of firms [2] who had suffered cyber-security breaches and found that the results ‘were often catastrophic’. In addition to the money stolen, law firms incurred additional costs in higher insurance premiums, lost time and damaged client relationships.

The SRA publishes recent scam alerts on its website [3], so that we can all see what to look out for. It also presents a scams round-up as an overview of current scam activity.

Cyber-security steps you can implement now

The repercussions of cyber-attacks can be devastating for both clients and law firms, who may never recover their business reputation. It has never been more important to ensure that protective measures are in place.

A practised and well communicated incident response action plan (IRAP) can help everyone to understand their role in a crisis and minimise the inevitable impact. This plan should include:

There are accrediations that can also help, like Cyber Essentials Plus [4], a government-backed scheme which will demonstrate to your stakeholders that you take cyber-security seriously.

With some planning, training and the right technology in place, law firms can reduce risk and be confident that if a breach happens, they know how to respond to it and have everything they need in place.

Here are some questions that can help provide a snapshot of where your business is now:

You could choose to put together a strategy based on these suggestions:

You can find out more from the National Cyber Security Centre. It has put together a collection of resources [5] to help companies protect themselves from cyber-crime.

SearchFlow regards cyber-security as a vital part of any business. We’ve put together a handy list of key questions [6] to help you examine the current state of your cyber-security.