Law Technology Today From the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center
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There’s no doubt that for a legal firm, cybersecurity is a priority. And there’s a ton of reasons for that:
- You’re storing personal data of your clients, who also provide you with billing information that should be well-protected.
- Your own financial, human resources, and other procedures are under threat if your cybersecurity measures aren’t substantial enough.
- Your whole practice and cases you’re working on are under a constant threat of being stolen or leaked if you don’t secure your online activity.
Cybersecurity has been a widely discussed topic for over two years, and yet neither governmental institutions nor private companies take online security seriously. In an interview to CNN, Erik Brynjolfsson, a professor from MIT, commented on this issue back in 2018, saying that cybersecurity systems are so atrocious that not only websites and social networks, but banking and voting systems aren’t secure from being attacked by hackers.
Multiple cyber attacks over 2017 and 2018 have shown how detrimental lax cybersecurity systems can be. Not to mention that they can cost your legal practice over $2 million, the most expensive component of a cyber attack being information loss (comprising 43% of all costs).
Attacks on websites are also among those frequently occurring instances of cyber attacks, as they contain a lot of important data on how a company operates, not to mention that your website is your online business card.
So, what should you do to secure your legal site from malware attacks?
Here are some tips.
HTTP vs. HTTPS
It is common knowledge that the majority of websites use HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol). This is a basic system that helps information appear on your website. However, back in 2014 Google recommended all website owners to transfer their sites to HTTPS (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure), claiming that this protocol system will secure them from online threats.
Unfortunately, it is reported that only 31% of websites have transferred to HTTPS.
What’s the big deal?
The main difference between HTTP and HTTPS is that the latter has an SSL Certificate, meaning that HTTPS has extra security in a form of data encryption. SSL Certificate is extremely important for the websites that contain sensitive data like passwords, financial data, etc. Legal websites may contain data on current practices and cases, which is also under the danger of being leaked. Securing your website with HTTPS protocol gives you extra protection against cyber attacks.
Cloud Backup
Cloud storages have become widely popular in the business community, with 85% of businesses already using this technology to store sensitive data. Here are the reasons why your legal firm should do it too:
- High usability: cloud storage easily syncs with your devices, so if you create a document on your computer, it instantly gets uploaded on a cloud and you can recover it at any time.
- Emergency recovery: cloud storage is a good backup plan in case of an emergency. And a built-in security system, used by all cloud storages, provides your documents with extra security.
- Versatility and accessibility: documents, stored on clouds, can be accessed from anywhere.
A big advantage of using cloud storage for backup is their cost. Purchasing a gigabyte of online storage will only cost you around three cents, with additional features to boost your security. Investments in cybersecurity, in general, can cost your legal firm millions of dollars annually, and although this investment is worth its money, you can save on backup using cloud storage.
Two-Factor Authentication
For all the information you store on your website you might need extra security layers. This can be ensured by implementing two-factor authentication—a system that requires a person to present at least two pieces of evidence to be allowed to enter and use sensitive data.
For instance, you can ask a person to enter not only login and password but some extra data like the maiden name of their mother or university they went to, before allowing them to enter your website. “We’ve implemented two-factor authentication after launching our app, and we never had security breaches since,” says Martin Harris, app developer at Flatfy.
Indeed, research shows that multi-factor authentication is becoming a trend in online security with new features, like behavioral indexes and personalized password generation systems being introduced to secure information online.
For a legal firm, two-factor authentication is a must-have. It is important to remember that you store a lot of sensitive information important not only for your practice but for the security of your customers. Implementing this system will give your legal site an extra level of security.
The Bottom Line
It’s a fact that cybersecurity should be taken more seriously. Yet, many companies still miss out on many opportunities and technology that can protect them, suffering insane budget losses.
Lesson here? Invest in making your legal site more secure to protect valuable information. In the world, where cyber attacks get more and more common, increasing cybersecurity is not just a whim. It’s a necessity.
