Law Firms Need to Rethink How They Protect Confidential Digital Assets

A law firm in Virginia, one of the latest victims in a string of cyber attacks against U.S. based law firms, is picking up the pieces after hackers infiltrated the firm’s e-mail system and released emails containing confidential information related to a high-profile case. With a clear message that law firms are a prime target for security attacks through their email systems, they need to rethink how they are storing and exchanging their most confidential digital assets.

According to a report at law.com, email is a common way to infiltrate a firm’s systems. Using a method called “spear phishing,” an email that contains a link or attachment, arrives from someone who appears to be a trusted source. When opened the hacker has instant access to the recipient’s computer and/or internal network. The same report noted that intrusions backed by state entities are increasing because information related to mergers and acquisitions is of great interest to state-sponsored agents.

Digital risk consultants who advise law firms suggest that in-house counsel take a risk-oriented approach to the protection of their most sensitive information, by identifying the digital assets that are at most risk to intrusion and then segregating them to provide additional security.

Virtual Data Rooms – a cloud-based secure document sharing solution – deliver secure document protection and exchange over the internet. With no capital investment or implementation requirements, in-house counsel could have a solution to their confidential document protection problems up and running within hours. Extremely secure, they comply with the latest industry standards for data security, including SOC2 and SAS 70 Type II. Designed for ease of use and security, Virtual Data Rooms provide granular access permission settings and integrate with digital rights management to control who can see what documents and control what they can do with the document.

With a Firmex Virtual Data Room, law firms receive a highly secure environment with expert customer support and complete cost certainty. An unlimited use subscription gives the firm flexibility to host as many documents in as many data rooms as the firm needs, all for one price.

Debbie Stephenson

Debbie Stephenson is a former Content Marketing Manager at Firmex.

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