6 Ways to Avoid the Top Cyber Risks

Did you know your risk of a cyber breach increases every time an employee leaves your firm?

And if the departure was acrimonious, your risk rises exponentially.

“Some who feel their dismissal was unjust may be tempted to seek revenge by putting sensitive information on an email blast to all the wrong people,” writes Tom Lambotte for Attorney at Work. “Alternatively, they may try to profit from their heinousness by selling the data (and, trust me, there’ll be no short supply of ready buyers from the underworld).”

Another tip: if you fail to promptly install software updates and patches, you’re opening a hole in our system and inviting hackers to enter.

“When they discover one or more such vulnerabilities — bam! — they go right to work boring into them until they manage to open a virtual hole in your system,” according to Lambotte. “Then they take data unauthorized persons are never supposed to get their mitts on.”

Read “Law Firm Cyber Risk” by Tom Lambotte in Attorney at Work.

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6 Recommendations from a Cyber Security Pro

Here are ways to protect your firm from cyber criminals, courtesy of Tom Lambotte and Attorney at Work:

1. Initiate a cybersecurity awareness training program. “The goal of this training is not merely to educate your team concerning potential security threats but also to encourage a change in behavior (thereby reducing the risk that human error will pave the way for a successful cyberattack),” writes Lambotte. “The training is more likely to take hold if it’s delivered at regular intervals and in bite-size pieces. It’ll also help if you make the training fun and easy.”
2. Train your team to recognize email phishing attempts. You can test your team’s readiness by using a Cyber Safety Accountability Service like KnowBe4.
3. Establish IT security protocols. “The most common security policies cover disaster recovery planning, acceptable use criteria, and password construction guidelines.”
4. Stay off the dark web. “Use a dark-web scanning service to make sure none of your email addresses, passwords or other sensitive data have found their way to this online den of thieves.”
5. Protect your passwords. Use a password manager or password vault to store your passwords. Choose strong passwords. A password generator can create good ones. Change passwords often – or at the first indication of a breach.
6. Back up your emails and critical documents. “Cloud-to-cloud SaaS backup is ideal — especially if it’s fully automated, HIPAA compliant, running nonstop in the background and employing multiple layers of operational and physical security,” according to Attorney at Work. “These layers should include SOC 2 compliance, application-level authentication of SaaS system access, strong encryption, intrusion detection, compartmentalized access to production servers, and certifications for third parties, privacy, and compliance matters.”

Source: Law Firm Cyber Risk: 7 Things You Can Do to Thwart Cyberattacks (attorneyatwork.com)

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