News in the Channel - issue #29

SECURITY FOR LEGAL FIRMS

Threats from cyber criminals are ever-growing and legal firms, with their wealth of confidential data, are naturally targets. This means network security is imperative and resellers have a crucial role to play in ensuring firms get the right solutions.

Confidential is a watchword for legal firms. They are trusted with huge amounts of information – be they corporate or criminal law firms – that must be kept secret. This means that network security is imperative as law firms are natural targets for cyber criminals. Indeed, as Brian Sibley, Virtual CTO at Espria, notes, 65% of law firms have been victims of cyber incidents, and 90% of the top 25 UK law firms have faced threats, according to Cyfor Secure Cyber Security. “This means that it is very much a matter of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’ businesses will be attacked,” he adds. “Due to the sensitive nature of the data handled by legal businesses, cyberattack is an ongoing significant threat. Legal institutions face a relentless barrage of cyber threats amplified by the proliferation of digital systems and software. According to Sophos, 59% of organisations were hit with a ransomware attack in the last year, with 32% of reported attacks starting from an unpatched vulnerability.”

evolving to be the potential risk of it being leaked or exposed or selling it on illegal marketplaces. That means the biggest threats are changing from businesses needing their data and systems to work, to those where the data is their work. “The legal sector saw a 77% increase in attacks in 2024 according to a recent study. The high value data of customers and case work makes them a prime target, along with the fact many are small businesses, which brings lower investment in IT, more informal processes, and greater individual control over data. Even if legal organisations aren’t the primary target, their involvement with high profile clients – business and personal – means supply chain attacks can easily

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The legal sector saw a 77% increase in attacks in 2024 according to a recent study. The high value data of customers and case work makes them a prime target, along with the fact many are small businesses, which brings lower investment in IT, more informal processes, and greater individual control over data.

bring them under the spotlight.” Phil Skelton, business director at International at eSentire, adds that

ransomware has been the biggest threat over the past few years. “Attackers encrypt data and then demand a ransom,” he says. “Or worse yet, they threaten to publish, for all the world to see, the data they have stolen in addition to encrypting the data, if the victim organisation doesn’t pay. What is changing is how attackers might try to get access to those systems in the first place. “The most common approach remains phishing – fake messages that appear

Evolving threats The threats law firms are facing are continually evolving too, adds Neil

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Langridge, marketing and alliances director at e92plus, “As cybercrime is evolving, we are seeing a strong movement in tactics – for example, ransomware is increasingly changing from just encryption to data exfiltration,” he says. “As organisations improve their backup and business continuity plans, the value in data is

to come from a trusted source or acquaintance and asks the user to

download a file or click on a link, which end up being malicious. However, these are not the only attack types that are taking place.”

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