Data security concerns are at an all-time high; according to the ABA’s 2021 Legal Technology Survey Report, 25% of law firms claimed that their business had a security breach at some point. Data breaches can have catastrophic consequences, resulting in significant financial losses and irreparable damage to your business’s reputation. Legal teams deal with highly sensitive and confidential information, from contracts and agreements to legal strategies and sensitive client information. Unfortunately, leaks of legal information happen more often than you might think, and the consequences can be severe.
This is why legal teams must prioritize cybersecurity and proactively enhance their data security. This article will discuss best practices and tools that legal firms and teams can use to strengthen their data protection and prevent breaches.

Best Tools and Practices

There is no single method to secure your law firm’s data. Consider a defense-in-depth approach to data security that utilizes multiple checks and the latest legal technology.

Consider the following security best practices for your business.

Establish a Data Security Policy for Your Organization

Believe it or not, human error rather than technical glitches cause most security breaches. To prevent such incidents, create a simple data security plan and distribute it to all employees. Educate your staff on how to use two-factor authentication, only use company-approved apps, and adopt a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy for employees who use their own devices.

Train Your Staff To Mitigate Data Risks

Do not assume that everyone knows how to spot and avoid fraudulent emails. Initiate a conversation with them and provide them with periodic training to prevent accidental mistakes and promote best data security practices.

It is essential to provide training to new hires and then follow it up with yearly training. Data privacy Continuing legal education (CLEs) can also be useful in identifying risks and implementing solutions to mitigate them.

Use Strong Credentials

Always use strong passwords. Do not use passwords that are easy to guess, such as your daughter’s birthday or “123456,” and never use the same password for all your accounts. Instead, create strong, complex passwords, and use a trustworthy password manager to ensure password security and simplify management.

Encrypt Your Data

Encryption is a simple yet highly effective method to secure your data and prevent cyberattacks. By converting your data into code that requires a key or password to decipher, you can secure your data stored in email, local hard drives, web browsers, or cloud applications.

Choose tools that handle encryption on your behalf, such as Clio, which implements in-transit and at-rest encryption using industry best practices like HTTPS and TLS.

Secure Your Communications

One of the most common ways cybercriminals intercept data is through communication channels. In case your main communication channel is email, consider implementing DMARC policy to keep both internal and external stakeholders’ data safe from email security attacks.

As part of your company’s data security strategy, evaluate your communication channels’ vulnerabilities and take steps to mitigate them, such as encrypting your company’s communications. Consider using communication apps, for instance, Signal, which provide end-to-end encryption for multiple messaging protocols.

Control Access to Sensitive Data

For professionals working with sensitive information, it’s important to enforce the principles of Least Privilege and Need to Know. This means granting access to information only to those who require it for their work. To help enforce these principles, use tools that allow you to redact text from PDFs, add watermarks, or apply Bates numbering. These functions make it easier to protect sensitive information and ensure that only authorized individuals can access it.

Perform Regular Evaluations

Conduct regular audits to identify and mitigate risks, such as ensuring that former employees can no longer access legal files and that security measures such as effective antivirus software and firewalls are operating effectively to prevent malware and other malicious software from infecting your systems.

Make sure to evaluate your law firm’s data security regularly to prevent neglecting flaws. Consider data privacy certifications, such as ISO 27001 certification, to increase your security to the next level. These programs can ensure adequate protocols are in place and attractive to current and potential customers.

Plan for the Worst

Prepare for data intrusions by creating a contingency plan detailing what needs to be done promptly in the event of unauthorized access to your data. The plan should include communication procedures, password resets, and reporting to concerned individuals or regulatory authorities.

Also, prepare a business continuity/disaster recovery plan to define critical systems and equipment, identify appropriate tools/procedures (backups, remote sites, cloud providers, etc.), and devise communication strategies. Regularly evaluate the plan to determine what works and what does not.

Increase Mobile Security

As more legal work is done remotely, the need for mobile security in law firms is increasing. One way to simplify the process is by using secure mobile apps. However, it’s also important to upgrade the security of your smartphone and laptop. Here are some measures to improve mobile security:

  • Implement multifactor authentication to require a password and a temporary code sent to another device.
  • Backup company data to a secure, encrypted location in case of device loss or ransomware attack.
  • Keep business and personal accounts separate to avoid combining confidential professional and personal communications.
  • Have a plan for lost or stolen mobile devices, including locating a lost device and remotely suspending or disabling it.
  • Instruct clients on the most secure methods of communication and how to use them, such as using a client portal and creating a password.

Conclusion

Data security is a vital aspect that legal teams must prioritize to protect their confidential information from cybercriminals. Legal documents and strategies must be kept confidential to avoid dire consequences of data breaches. A defense-in-depth approach incorporating multiple security checks and legal technology tools can enhance data protection in a law firm.

It is also essential to have a data security policy, train staff, use strong credentials, encrypt data, control access to sensitive data, and regularly evaluate data security to prevent neglecting flaws. Finally, it is vital to plan for the worst, increase mobile security, and instruct clients on secure communication methods.

By adopting these best practices, legal teams can proactively protect their data from cyber threats and maintain their reputation in the legal industry.