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90% Of Canadian Legal Firms Are Enhancing Their Cybersecurity – Are You?

Canadian Legal Firms Are Enhancing Their Cybersecurity

From 2018 to 2019, the number of data breaches experienced by Canadian organizations nearly doubled – how are you responding to the growing threat of cybercrime?

Your peers in the Canadian legal industry are feeling the pressure to upgrade cybersecurity measures and better protect their firm. It’s both a matter of protecting employees and showing current and potential clients that you can be trusted with their data. That’s why 90% of Canadian lawyers believe they need to make a greater effort in securing their firm’s data.

The bottom line is that you can’t afford to assume that you’re safe from cybercrime – you need to know for sure, by investing in the right cybersecurity defenses…

How Are Canadian Law Firms Approaching Cybersecurity?

In the past few years, legal firms across Canada have begun to understand the importance of cybersecurity. According to a study by Robert Half Legal, 9 in 10 surveyed lawyers plan to increase their firm’s cybersecurity resources. Compare this to the same study from 2017, in which less than half of that number intended to spend more on cybersecurity.

“Considering the high volume of personal and sensitive information they maintain, law firms and law departments recognize they are a particular target for cyberattacks,” says lawyer Charles Volkert, senior district president at Robert Half Legal. “In the wrong hands, this valuable and confidential information could prove costly to any organization and cause irreparable damage to their brand and reputation, not to mention the fact that if a law firm loses a client’s confidential data to an attack, it could face serious legal and ethics violations as well.”

What Should Your Law Firm Cybersecurity Include?

  1. Anti-virus & Firewalls

    Antivirus software is used in conjunction with a firewall to provide defense against malware, adware, and spyware. Each of these cybercriminal tactics has the potential to do immense damage to internal processes and a company’s reputation. The job of antivirus software is to spot, block, and isolate intrusive, malicious applications so they can’t do damage to your data and legitimate software.Antivirus is installed to protect at the user level, known as endpoint protection, and is designed to detect and block a virus or malware from taking root on a user’s computer, or worse, accessing a network to which the user is connected.

    Your firewall is your first line of defense for keeping your information safe. A firewall is a particular type of solution that maintains the security of your network. It blocks unauthorized users from gaining access to your data. Firewalls are deployed via hardware, software, or a combination of the two.

  2. Two-Factor Authentication

    Two-Factor Authentication is a great way to add an extra layer of protection to the existing system and account logins. By requiring a second piece of information like a randomly-generated numerical code sent by text message, you’re better able to make sure that the person using your employee’s login credentials is actually who they say they are. Biometrics like fingerprints, voice, or even iris scans are also options, as are physical objects like keycards.

  3. Encryption

    In layman’s terms, encrypted data is formatted in a secret code that would be meaningless if intercepted. It is one of the most efficient ways to secure a database given that decryption can only occur through a key, which is essentially a “secret password”. In this case, there is a need for updated encryption software to make sure that private information is only accessible through the database program.
  4. Update & Patch Management

    Software updates are not only to improve the functionality of the software; they also serve as a patch for recently identified vulnerabilities that can be exploited by hackers. Your IT company can handle the management of these updates to make sure that not a single one is ever skipped or delayed.

  5. Verify And Test Your Backups

    If you want your desktop files backed up, it’s your responsibility to make sure your cloud is doing so automatically. You must have a backup copy of your data if it’s stolen or accidentally deleted.Develop a Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery policy that specifies…

    1. What data is backed up
    2. How often it’s backed up
    3. Where it’s stored
    4. Who has access to the backups

Backup to both an external drive in your office and a remote, secure, online data center. Set backups to occur automatically. And make sure your backup systems are encrypted.

There you have it – everything you need to do to make sure your data is protected. Now that you know what you need, you won’t have a problem researching, purchasing, installing and maintaining these solutions, right?

… well, maybe. It’s understandable if you don’t think you have the time or knowledge to handle this on your own. That’s why you can get an IT company like OnServe to do it for you. We’ll take care of it, so you can know you’re secure and focus on your work

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