How Law Firms Can Protect Data and Clients While Working From Home

Protect Sensitive Law Firm Data with Cybersecurity Solutions

As law firms throughout the New Orleans area have shifted to working from home, cybersecurity is critical. Learn how to protect your firm from cyberattacks  

Law firms around the world have had to adapt to new ways of doing business. Attorneys and their staffs are working remotely from homes, and clients are unable to meet in person, increasing the reliance on video conferencing tools. ANd courts have shut down, suspending most hearings and trials.

It’s a level of work disruptions that most practicing lawyers have never seen.

It’s also meant an increased focus on cybersecurity to ensure that clients, files, and information are protected from cyberattacks.

What Risks Do Law Firms Face During the COVID-19 Pandemic?

The shift to at-home work means law professionals are working differently in nearly every aspect. Unfortunately, cybercriminals are targeting these workers with attacks, mostly phishing attempts that can compromise systems and result in the loss of data or hijacked websites.

Consider that employees are now working remotely and, in some cases, with personal devices on less-secure home wireless networks. Yet employees still need to access and transmit sensitive information about clients, their companies, and their ongoing legal issues. As always, if that data is exposed as a result of a cyberattack, the consequences can be dire both financially and reputationally. The costs can be considerable and trigger state, federal, or international data breach notification laws.

Many of the phishing schemes appear to be emailed from health agencies, law enforcement or government officials with information on the pandemic or financial issues such as relief payments. Clicking on links or attachments in these messages leads to malware that can be installed on the device and embedded in your systems and networks. In some cases, hackers are looking to steal data or install ransomware. Others are rewriting boot sectors, making it difficult for computers to launch, or erasing data.

What Can Law Firms Do to Protect Against Cyberattacks?

In the scramble to relocate work to homes, law firm executives focused on smooth transitions of employees to work from home. Now is the time to focus on education, awareness, and a review of policies and procedures needed to protect the firm and clients. Here are some tips on what law firms can do to maintain good cybersecurity:

• Do not save documents to personal devices, including smartphones, laptops, tablets or thumb drives, or commercial cloud sharing sites like Dropbox or Google Drive.
• Use security tools like anti-virus software on all devices used for work.
• Adopt multifactor authentication to access apps and files
• Review password protection guidelines and require passwords to be changed frequently
• Require personal devices used for work to have security software provided by the employer before access is granted to remote systems
• Create a page on the firm’s website for employees and clients with updates on the company, on privacy policies and other procedures to follow while working from home
• Require the use of a virtual private network (VPN) with secure end-to-end encryption for remote access to files
• Forbid the use of public WiFi networks in places like restaurants or coffee shops. These WiFi networks are less secure, and the public spaces make it easier for others to see screens and documents
• Put more restrictions when accessing the most sensitive materials.

Employee training sessions about the risks are an excellent preventative measure, especially to answer questions about how to complete work in the new reality.

At BIOS Technologies, we offer security solutions to law firms throughout the New Orleans area. In these uncertain times, let us help your firm protect emails, devices, networks, and sensitive data. To learn more about our cybersecurity services, contact us today.