• March 28, 2024
 Over half of legal professionals have no cyber security training

Over half of legal professionals have no cyber security training

51% of employees in the legal service industry have had no cyber security training arranged by their current employer, according to a new survey. This is alarming information as the same survey reveals 83% of legal professionals handle confidential data at work.

The survey was commissioned by NordLocker, an encrypted cloud service provider. Oliver Noble, a cyber security expert at NordLocker, explained:

Since legal services is among the top ten industries most hit by ransomware, the organizations that do not train their employees how to identify the potential risks and about the right measures to avoid them are on the brink of falling victim to various cybercriminal activities.”

11% do not use any cyber security tools

The survey reveals that 11% of employees in the legal services industry do not use any cyber security tools at work. Among those who do use protection on their digital devices, antivirus is the most popular software (67%) followed by a password manager (57%), a VPN (51%), and a file encryption tool (40%).

Noble said:

With cyber racketeers going after the overwhelming amount of sensitive client data legal service providers have access to, employers who do not urge their employees to use the necessary cybersecurity tools, or even worse, do not provide them, are putting their reputation at stake.

Unsecured IoT devices, such as printers, can provide a pathway to a legal firm’s computer systems.”

30% would blame their employer for a data breach

When asked who should be responsible if they accidentally caused a data breach in their workplace, the majority of legal professionals answered with “both the employer and the employee” (41%). However, almost one in three respondents (30%) would solely blame their company if they were involved in a data breach.

With the human element being one of the weakest links in a company’s cybersecurity and hackers looking for vulnerabilities to exploit, it is easy to see why many employees believe their employer should ensure appropriate means to be able to withstand threats,” Noble says.

Five easy-to-implement cybersecurity practices for legal professionals

  • Make sure your employees use strong and unique passwords to connect to your systems. Better yet, implement multi-factor authentication.
  • Secure your email by training your staff to identify signs of phishing, especially when an email contains attachments and links.
  • Implement and enforce periodic data backup and restoration processes. An encrypted cloud might be the most secure solution for this.
  • Adopt zero-trust network access, meaning that every access request to digital resources by a member of staff should be granted only after their identity has been appropriately verified.
  • Encrypt your client files to avoid data leaks in ransomware. Even if encrypted files are stolen from corporate computers, hackers will not be able to access their content and threaten you with exposing the data publicly.

Jamie Lennox, Editor, Today's Family Lawyer

Editor of Today's Conveyancer, Today's Wills and Probate, and Today's Family Lawyer

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