Breaches and attacks against the legal industry hit hard. More than 11.5 million documents from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca were leaked to the public in 2016, representing a jaw-dropping 2.6 terabytes of data. In 2017, global firm DLA Piper fell victim to a ransomware attack that shut down many of its offices — a short-term revenue killer. Small firms, too, are at risk. Moses Afonso Ryan, a 10-attorney firm in Providence, filed suit against its insurance carrier after it denied claims from a ransomware attack that resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost billable hours. The lesson? Firms should consider the ramifications of cyberattacks not only from a revenue and productivity standpoint, but also the reputational damages that result from security vulnerabilities. It’s too easy for clients to switch firms if they sniff out an operations issue that could jeopardize confidentiality. Read More
