Data privacy and security are among the fundamental components of any type of business, not just legal services. Personal information, and data in general, has slowly but surely become the very bloodline and an extremely important asset of every modern business landscape. 

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Within the legal service environment, this claim carries even more weight, as law firms and attorneys are often entrusted with and need to handle client and/or consumer information that is, typically, of quite sensitive nature. Businesses that provide legal services tend to gather, handle, process, and store huge amounts of client-based data, which means that the levels of responsibility and confidentiality need to be as high as possible.

According to the 2021 Cybersecurity survey conducted by the American Bar Association, 25% of law firms surveyed report that they have experienced a data breach, while as many as 7 out of 10 attorneys are not sure if their company’s data has been compromised. 

These insights showcase that there are still numerous law firms that need to up their game in terms of tackling data privacy and security. 

Why Legal Service Companies Should Care About Data Security

Data security and privacy involve strategies and practices deployed by a company in order to protect its data, or the data that belongs to its customers, from being corrupted, destroyed, or accessed by unauthorized individuals throughout entire data lifecycles. 

Law firms in particular need to ensure high levels of data security. Not just because their client pools and corporates demand both operational data and personal information to be properly protected, but because even a single data breach can result in a company’s reputation being seriously damaged. 

Regardless of the industry a business operates in, all Business-to-Client and Business-to-Business ecosystems and relationships are based on mutual trust. Law firms manage and process sensitive client data, and a vast amount of these information pieces belong to individuals who are business owners themselves. If this data gets lost or exposed to unauthorized parties, the relationship between a law firm and its client could be ruined and lead to the end of lucrative business collaboration. 

This is why it is highly recommended that all firms that provide legal services to their clients make data privacy and data security priority number one. Only by creating and implementing a strong data protection strategy and setting up a solid cybersecurity policies framework, can a law firm be sure that it complies with all the necessary rules and regulations required for reaching appropriate security levels across its data sets and communication channels. 

What are Typical Cybersecurity Challenges That Law Firms are Facing?

There are numerous obstacles that law firms need to deal with during their process of achieving necessary data protection levels. These challenges are often seemingly costly and require multifaceted approaches, but when we take into consideration that preventing cybersecurity attacks is far less pricy, both in terms of resources and reputation, than recovering from them - investing in these systems and strategies does pay off in the long run. 

For example, the average data breach costs $4.24 million in 2021, which is a 10% rise from the results from 2020. This is fairly high, especially when we take into account that small to mid-sized law firms tend to have less hefty cybersecurity and data protection budgets, and are thus more vulnerable to data breaches, attacks, and data losses. 

While enterprise-level law companies are more likely to better handle the high cost of potential cyberattacks, smaller businesses could easily face bankruptcy after impactful cyberattacks, unless they have optimal data security strategies in place. 

Law firms also tend to face the challenge of data and work overload, while at the same time being obligated to meet industry standards in terms of data and infrastructure security. Catering to numerous clients and simultaneously keeping their data secured can be a major issue, especially if the latter task is performed manually. 

This brings us to the main segment of the article: 

Best Practice Tips for Overcoming Law Firm Data Privacy and Security Issues

Making sure that a law firm manages and protects all the data that circulates across its systems can be a complex and resource-heavy process. However, there are proven, best practice tips that can help you bring your data protection and privacy to industry-standard levels quite easily and without breaking a big bank or hindering your workflow. 

Use Encryption for Sensitive Data Management

Law firms process and keep huge amounts of sensitive data and, in so doing, have a great responsibility when it comes to how these data sets are protected. This headache can be fixed by the proper implementation of a data encryption policy. 

It is highly recommended that all legal service companies ensure the encryption of data - both the data pieces that are “in transit,” as well as the information “at rest” - so if a data breach does occur, the attackers won’t be able to (mis)use their data.

Here’s a useful article on various data encryption tools designed for the needs of law firms. We also suggest considering the utilization of rotating residential proxies as this solution can stop unauthorized personnel from accessing sensitive data pieces. 

Use Activity Monitoring Solutions

Another effective best practice is to deploy activity monitoring solutions to track user activity across your systems. Whether it is the activity of your employees, your website traffic, or any other type of data-flow monitoring, this process helps you lay the groundwork for streamlining your data security and privacy strategy. 

When it comes to the monitoring of website traffic, there are numerous user activity automation and analysis tools law firms can use to track traffic and detect threats early on. Some of these platforms are even free-to-use and are of great assistance for eliminating human errors and automating activity monitoring.

Do Not Neglect Email Security Best Practices 

Emailing platforms and channels carry a significant portion of sensitive data. Emails are used on a daily basis, especially within legal service environments, and the information that is being shared there can easily be intercepted by skilled cyber-attackers. On the other hand, companies should also take proper care of where and how email-based data archiving takes place, as well as for how long certain pieces of data should be stored across the systems.  

According to the 2021 American Bar Association survey, 53% of respondents have a policy that helps them handle and automate data retention, which is a percentage that should definitely get a boost in years to come. Additionally, 60% of the firms surveyed report using email use policies that assist them with managing email-based data. These practices also include the implementation archiving software that ensures proper email-based data management and retention. 

Utilize Multi-Factor Authentication Across Your Systems

Security can be boosted by using multi-factor authentication. Multi-factor authentication involves requesting a user to verify their identity more than one time before they can access the data or a network. Using at least a dual-factor system is highly recommended, while the number of verifications should go up depending on data-sensitivity levels. 

Multi-factor authentication practices may include:

• SMS/email codes
• Security questions
• Captchas, etc.

Keep Your Data Security Systems Regularly Updated 

Running outdated software is extremely risky in terms of cyberattacks. Any device accessing the web must submit its IP address, which leads to increased vulnerability as skilled cybercriminals can abuse this IP address to tap into device applications that they shouldn’t have access to. 

If the computer devices your employees use feature outdated operating and security systems, the risk of a data breach taking place gets much higher. So, be sure that all your employees use updated computers and devices when accessing the internet. And do not forget to update all third-party platforms and apps your law firm might be using. 

Have Appropriate Password Policies in Place

Having a solid password policy across your entire company may seem like a piece of novice advice, but the fact that 65% of surveyed users reuse their password for multiple or all accounts begs to differ. This risky practice further increases the chances of sensitive data being stolen, which is why every legal service company should have a password policy that clearly outlines the importance of strong and dedicated password use. You can also consider using some of the password management tools available today to automate this task 

Create a Security-Focused Mindset Across an Entire Company

In order to have high levels of data security within your law company, there first needs to be a security-focused mindset present within each and every employee. To achieve this and ensure quick responses, consider having security awareness training exercises. Some workforces find it difficult to adopt these practices without adequate training and proper subsequent safety management. 

Taking Cybersecurity Seriously 

Data breaches and reputation-damaging cyberattacks happen every day. As more and more of a company’s infrastructure and data gets migrated to the cloud-verse, the cybercrime landscape adapts accordingly and finds new ways to gather and abuse someone else’s information. 

By implementing the best practice tips explained above, law firms make sure that their and their client's data is as secured as possible and in accordance with the latest cybersecurity standards.