Ransomware and other cyberattacks rank among the most debilitating threats to a law firm’s operations. With a growing focus on technology and the digitalisation of processes, the potential damages caused by malicious actors will only continue to grow, as we saw firsthand with a number of security breaches in firms in 2020 as the sector made a widespread pivot towards remote working. The risk has been recognised by international bodies, with the EU proposing new cybersecurity regulations to counter the surge. Accordingly, legal teams are already seeking to bolster their firms’ safeguards against bad actors. The use of comprehensive data backup and recovery solutions is growing more normalised, protecting against the irretrievable loss of data in case of an attack that locks a firm’s systems (but doing little to prevent this data being leaked). Managed software solutions are another avenue being explored by many firms, hiring outside expertise to develop more secure IT infrastructure. While expensive, investments of this scale are more likely to be seen as worthwhile in light of the global average cost of a data breach reaching $4.35 million last year. Beyond being a concern for law firms, cybersecurity represents a growing consideration for organisations in every sector. As cloud services and remotely accessed databases are normalised across the working world, cybersecurity and privacy are poised to become one of the most profitable practice areas. Firms that are looking to capitalise on this would do well to invest in their talent pool immediately, the better to provide a competitor-beating service that will guarantee demand in the months to come. SPECIAL FEATURE 15 Cybersecurity Focus
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