Protecting against a cyber breach.
Understanding what a cyber breach is—and more importantly, what to do about it—is critical
knowledge for those running law firms. A cyber breach occurs when a third party gains unauthorized
access to a company’s computer systems, website and/or data.
What’s most important to understand is that many law firms today are far more at risk for a cyber
breach than they realize. And many are often under insured should the worst happen.
Law firms are attractive targets to cyber thieves because of the sensitive and valuable client
information they obtain and store. Not only are criminals interested in this information, but so are
foreign governments and competitors.
Types of Law Firm Cyber Breaches
Cyber attacks and breaches can affect your law firm in a variety of ways:- Lost/stolen business laptop or cell phone
- Email phishing attack
- Ramsomware attack
- Malware infection
- Denial of service
- Hacked business email/website
- Stolen data (internal and client)
- Wire transfer fraud
- Misdirection of electronic payments and/or information
- Cyber extortion
Click here for more examples of Law Firm Cyber Breach Experiences
The Danger of Cyber Breaches to Law Firms
Did you know...- According to Verizon’s annual Data Breach Investigation Report (2019), 43% of all attacks target the small to mid-sized business sector. And these events, on average, cost small businesses $3 million (Ponemon, State of Cybersecurity in Small & Medium Size Businesses report).
- 2019 saw a significant 44% increase of ransomware claims vs. 2018.
- For the first time in five years of tracking, “Ransomware” is the number one cause of loss in the non-healthcare segment.
- Whether through wire transfers, fraudulent payments or unauthorized access to financial accounts, cybercrime activities were up significantly on all sectors of business in 2019.
- IT Forensics costs, overall, were up 68%, while the average IT Forensic costs were up 21% vs 2018.
Click here for more statistics from the Tokio Marine HCC – Cyber Digest.
Other Regulatory Requirements Applicable to Cyber Incidents
The damages that law firms can sustain from a cyber breach are financial, reputational and regulatory in nature.
They include:
- Forensic investigations
- Public relations
- Customer notifications
- Credit monitoring
- Regulatory fines/penalties
- Remediation costs
- Reputation rebuilding
- Business interruption
Fortunately, we have cyber breach coverage for your firm, no matter the size, type of practice or scope of cyber security protection needed.
If you are not an OBLIC policyholder, or you are a policyholder but don’t have adequate cyber security coverage,
call (855) 745-9222 to speak to an OSBAIA agent now.
OBLIC policyholders:
Click here for policy plan highlights.
OBLIC non-policyholders:
Click here for policy plan highlights.
