No profession depends more on the confidentiality, integrity and availability of its data than law firms.

The information they collect forms the basis of all of their cases. Without it, they can’t represent their clients.

Because of the nature of that data, which includes PII, PHI, confidential and proprietary information, not to mention potentially embarrassing revelations, attorneys will be in the crosshairs of cyber criminals for the foreseeable future.

In fact, an analysis of public records by Law360 found that nearly 50 law firms reported data breaches in 2020 and that most were small and boutique firms. And that’s not all …

“There are probably many more attacks than what you’ve listed here. They just have not been documented in any official way,” said Claudia Rast, co-chair of the American Bar Association’s cyber security legal task force, to Law360.

The overwhelming majority of the 50 breaches (80%) was caused by human error or insider incidents.

To strengthen your firm’s security, consider the following five tips:

• Secure Your Mobile Devices with Passcodes, Biometric fingerprint access, and Encryption
• Create a culture of cyber security in your firm with policy-based Security Awareness Training
• Watch Autocomplete in Emails to avoid inadvertently sending an email to the wrong person
• Ensure remote devices and computers get the same protection at home and on the road as in the office
• Consider multi-factor authentication on critical entry points to your network, such as computer logins, to prevent criminals from accessing it with a stolen user name and password caught up in a data breach that had nothing to do with your firm