Law firms are prime candidates for cyber attacks because of the highly sensitive data they deal with, in addition to high-value financial transactions. Three in four law firms have been the victim of a cyber attack,[1] whereas only 39% of UK businesses overall have experienced an attack in the last 12 months.[2]
Damage from a cyber attack hits law firms in multiple ways. First is financial, and in its recent visits to UK practices, the Solicitors Regulation Authority found that 75% had been victims of a cyber attack and that in a sample of 23 firms, £4 million in client funds had been stolen – £400,000 of which had to be repaid by the firm directly, not by insurers.
The biggest challenges of cyber security for law firms
- Lack of resource
Security competes with other IT priorities that help practices to offer a superior service to their clients, to operate more efficiently, and to grow the book of business – things like process transformation, digitalisation, and service innovation. Delivering 24×7 security coverage in house requires a budget of several hundreds of thousands of pounds per year, so it’s understandable that law firms focus IT resources on revenue generating areas.
- Dissatisfaction with existing tools
£140 billion is spent on cyber security annually, yet the number of attacks continues to increase,[3] meaning there is clearly an effectiveness issue in the way cyber security tools are utilised. Many IT teams in the legal sector in fact have too many tools, leading to endless false alerts and needless complexity. Security staff are too often spending their time and wasting their expertise on chasing down red herrings. This prevents them from optimising their current tools to be more effective and build a more robust, proactive security stance within the firm.
- Compliance and cyber insurance
Compliance is a continually shifting topic, and the legislation varies between nations and jurisdictions. It’s a nigh-on full-time job just to stay on top of existing rules, let alone enforce them within your practice, yet 25% of firms are unable to dedicate a single member of staff to compliance.[4]
Compliance is not just about legislation. As cyber attacks increase, so too do insurance premiums. Insurers are setting the bar for attaining cyber insurance ever higher, requiring evidence of robust regulatory compliance, and attack detection, prevention and remediation capabilities.
- Reputational Damage
A successful cyber attack not only causes operational disruption and can cost a great deal to remediate, it also causes significant reputational damage. How can clients trust a practice that cannot trust its own security investments to protect client information? Reputational damage can lead to loss of business.
Getting your cyber security in order, then, is about more than just the attacks themselves. And in fact, is perhaps best seen as a business enabler due to the cost savings made and ability to meet regulatory demands, if implemented correctly.
What is the ‘correct’ implementation? Invest in more advanced cyber security tools, and bring expensive full-time specialist staff in house? In short, no. There is another way. One that requires no further investment in tools – just more effective outcomes.
Cyber security that assures your reputation
The Arctic Wolf approach, delivered by Xerox IT Services, is designed to enable you to meet the challenges outlined above head on, delivered via a cost-effective, as-a-service subscription, that plugs into your existing security tools, and is fully aligned to your firm’s way of working. Importantly, we tailor the security outcomes to your specific objectives, whether that is meeting compliance standards, hardening your overall security posture, or reducing insurance premiums.
Brought together, Arctic Wolf® Security Operations give your firm’s environment the robust 24/7 monitoring, detection, and response that cyber insurers and your clients want to see.
The comprehensive nature of our subscription-based cloud service is why Arctic Wolf is the most widely adopted and fastest growing vendor of choice in the most recent International Legal Technology Association Technology Survey.[5]
It lays the solid foundation upon which to build a data-focussed, modern law firm. One in which your IT team is given the time back to progress the practice’s capabilities further, while cyber security is taken care of, and your firm’s reputation is assured.
Why not experience how we can help set your firm up for success? Get in touch with us [email protected] or visit https://www.itecgroup.co.uk/xbs-it-services/advanced-security
[1] Solicitors Regulation Authority, ‘Cyber Security – A thematic review’, 2 September 2020. https://www.sra.org.uk/sra/research-publications/cyber-security/
[2] Cyber Security Breaches Survey, Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, 11 July 2022. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/cyber-security-breaches-survey-2022/cyber-security-breaches-survey-2022
[4] Arctic Wolf, ‘The State of Compliance 2022 Trends’, https://arcticwolf.com/resources/
[5] ILTA Technology Survey 2022. https://www.iltanet.org/resources/publications/surveys/ts22
