Your Law Firm, is under attack! Right now, extremely dangerous and well-funded cybercrime rings in China, Russia and the Ukraine are using sophisticated software systems to hack into thousands of law firms like yours to steal confidential client data and credit cards, and swindle money directly out of your IOLTA account. Some are even being funded by their own government to attack American businesses. Russia for example is continuously attempting to hack America from all angles.
No Law Firm Is Safe
Think you’re safe because your law firm is “small”? That’s exactly what Evansville, IN law firm, Woods and Woods thought too. 82,000 NEW malware threats are being released every single day and HALF of the cyber-attacks occurring are aimed at small businesses like law firms; you just don’t hear about it because they keep it quiet for fear of attracting bad reputations, lawsuits, being disbarred or data-breach fines and out of sheer embarrassment.
In fact, the the nation’s largest legal malpractice insurance writer, ALPS reports that 8 in 10 law firms have already been victims of cybercrime in the last year – and that number is growing rapidly as more firms utilize cloud computing and mobile devices, and store more information online. Quite simply, law firms are low-hanging fruit to hackers due to their lack of adequate security systems – which is what prompted this urgent post to all of you.
There are a few simple things you need to be doing on a consistent basis to avoid being the next statistic.
3 Tips to Protect Your Law Firm
- Use a sophisticated password. So many people are still using easy-to-guess passwords like “password” or other words or phrases. Hackers have sophisticated software programs that can try to log in to your PC, account, web site, etc., at the rate of 8 million login attempts per SECOND. If your password is easy, they’re in. Your password should contain at least 8 characters, uppercase and lowercase letters, a number and a symbol (! or #, for example).
- Install a “unified threat management” (UTM) system. Firewalls and antivirus aren’t enough to stop the sophisticated tools hackers now have. A UTM allows an IT administrator to monitor and manage a wide variety of security-related applications and devices to make sure you’re protected on all fronts.
- Educate your employees! Employees clicking on infected e-mails or downloading virus-laden files is still the #1 way hackers gain access to and control of business networks. Therefore, you need to outline an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) that details what employees can and cannot do with company-owned devices, files, software, etc. Plus, you need to make them aware of how to spot a phishing e-mail or attack so they can avoid it altogether.
Examples of Hacked Law Firm
Think this isn't possible. Here's a couple of recent examples of law firms that hackers extorted money from:
Hacker group hits 5 law firms in one month: http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/hacking-group-publishes-full-dump-of-law-firms-data-another-responds-to-cybersecurity-incident
Don't want your law firm to be an easy target? Get our report on the “7 Urgent Security Protections Every Law Firm Should Have In Place Now” here www.splice.net/security
