IT For Law Firms In 2022 — Have You Fallen Behind On Security?
With so much to prioritize and complete on a daily basis, operating a law firm can be challenging enough without IT issues to deal with as well. Unfortunately, the more convenient your IT makes your work life, the greater risk it poses to your business and client data.
The legal industry is facing its most challenging obstacle to date and it’s not from the opposition — these attacks against law firms are coming from hackers. The bottom line is that you can’t afford to assume that you’re safe from cybercrime. You need to know for sure, by investing in the right cybersecurity defenses.
Are you overwhelmed by cybersecurity management? If you can’t keep up, it will only be a matter of time until your systems are breached.
IT — A Double Edged-Sword
The fact is that the more you integrate client data and legal processes with modern technology, the more at risk you are for a cybercrime attack.
A large portion of the legal community is technology-focused. 35% report seeking cloud opportunities every time they need to upgrade. Cloud-based data accessed through modern management solutions need to be properly defended.
Unfortunately, not all firms are doing their due diligence. According to the ABA Legal Technology Report, legal firms use a range of cybersecurity measures at varying rates:
- Spam filters – 87%
- Anti-spyware – 80%
- Firewall software – 79%
- Pop-up blockers – 75%
- Desktop and laptop virus scanning – 73%
- Email virus scanning – 69%
- Mandatory passwords – 68%
- Network virus scanning 66%
- Hardware firewalls 57%
Less than half of surveyed firms use security measures such as file encryption (46%), file access restriction (41%), email encryption (38%), intrusion detection (34%), intrusion prevention (33%).
How do your cybersecurity defenses measure up?
What Should Your Cybersecurity Include?
Equip Your Firm With Modern Cybersecurity Solutions
These advanced types of cybersecurity software (firewalls, antivirus, antimalware) use artificial intelligence to better predict, identify and eliminate harmful malware.Security based on advanced algorithms that can adapt and learn creates a system that can become familiar with the normal patterns associated with each user and device, detecting anomalies in those patterns quickly.Essentially, something known as a neural net can be used in cybersecurity efforts. Based on a robust algorithm, the neural net can “learn” to spot patterns of data associated with previously identified and classified spear-phishing emails.By incorporating this technology into an email client’s spam filter, the filter will be able to spot fraudulent incoming emails and eliminate them before they reach the recipient. One of the best parts of neural nets is that they continue to learn and improve the more that they are used. With increasingly more data to draw from, this Artificial Intelligence will become more and more accurate in doing its job.
Update Software Continuously
You can’t afford to ignore software update notifications – but depending on your workload, you may have to. Software updates are not only intended to improve the functionality of the software; they also serve as a patch for recently identified vulnerabilities that can be exploited by hackers.
Monitor Your Systems
Also known as host-intrusion protection (HIP), this type of monitoring software will detect and report specially-developed malware that would otherwise make it past conventional antivirus and antimalware software.
Verify And Test Your Backups
If you want your desktop files backed up, it’s your responsibility to make sure your cloud is doing so automatically. You must have a backup copy of your data if it’s stolen or accidentally deleted.
Develop a Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery policy that specifies…
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- What data is backed up
- How often it’s backed up
- Where it’s stored
- Who has access to the backups
Backup to both an external drive in your office and a remote, secure, online data center. Set backups to occur automatically. And make sure your backup systems are encrypted.
Double Check Before You Click
No matter who the email is from or what it’s about, always exercise caution when it comes to clicking on a link or downloading an attachment:
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- Be wary of malicious attachments in email messages. They may contain malware that can infect your computer.
- Check to see who the real sender of the message is. The company name in the “From” field should match the address. Also, watch for addresses that contain typographical errors like jsmith@wellsfarg0.com.
- Hover over the URL in the email to view the full address. If you don’t recognize it, or if all the URLs in the email are the same, this is probably a phishing threat. Also, make sure that you and your employees know that all reputable URLs now start with https rather than HTTP.
- Use an email client that scans attachments for malware, and never autorun an .exe file you’re unsure about.
Need Expert Assistance With Your Law Firm’s Cybersecurity?
Everything you do relies on IT in one way or another. The better managed your IT is, the better you and your staff can do their jobs.
It’s understandable if you don’t think you have the time or knowledge to handle this on your own. That’s why you can get an IT partner like Advantage Industries to do it for you. We’ll take care of it, so you can know you’re secure and focus on your work
Get in touch with our team for expert support with your firm’s cybersecurity management processes.
