The news is peppered with headlines on a weekly basis of organisations falling victim to cyber attacks.
Between April and June 2019, UK businesses were victims of 146,491 attempted cyber crimes from criminals – on average this is an attack every 50 seconds – according to independent business internet service provider Beams.
Conveyancing and law firms are a jewel in the crown for cyber criminals due to the amount of money that is being transacted at any one time. Plus, the busy nature of the sectors also mean that some complacency can sneak in where cyber security is concerned.
If your firm does fall foul to a cyber criminals, this can leave your business open to multiple areas of concern. In the first instance, data loss and financial damage may vie for your attention as you try to limit the losses to the business. However, things like this don’t stay quiet for long, and if you go through the proper channels, you may find that you face some reputational damage as word starts to spread about your attack.
Once the news of your data breach is out there, a ripple effect can occur throughout that organisation both internally and externally.
Externally, current clients may move away and give their business to someone else, whilst new customers may swerve your organisation as you’re unable to keep their information and money safe. Internally, staff may be wondering who’s fault it was and what can be done to prevent this catastrophe from happening again.
With cyber crime estimated to cost the UK £27billion a year, it’s vital to have a mixture of technical protocols in place alongside cultural competencies – such as staff training – to help shut the door on cyber criminals.
IT teams/professionals are stretched and only spend approximately a quarter of their time dealing with cyber security. This 25% only encompasses the technical competencies at best and disregards the cultural element purely due to the lack of time.
Training staff how to spot scam emails can take up time, and the sophisticated methods criminals use now only make it harder and more time consuming. Plus building a positive cyber culture in your workplace can take time, as employees feel more empowered to spot criminals trying to wheedle their way into the day to day dealings of your firm.
The Move Exchange can help bridge that gap in your team’s knowledge by providing them with the skills to spot scam emails and help to identify areas of vulnerability to stop your firm’s reputation being damaged by cyber criminals.
For your no obligation discussion, please contact Sarah Brocklebank on 0330 223 2913
This article was submitted to be published by The Move Exchange as part of their advertising agreement with Today’s Family Lawyer. The views expressed in this article are those of the submitter and not those of Today’s Family Lawyer.
