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Legal Profession: Firms turning to cyber insurance as scammer attacks continue to rise

The proportion of law firms targeted by scammers has risen sharply over the last year, especially among larger firms, as has the number of practices taking out cyber-insurance, according to new research from the Law Society.

The Law Society Survey of 601 sole practitioners and firms with between two and 25 partners was commissioned for its annual review of the previous indemnity insurance round.

26% of firms said they were targeted by scammers in the previous year. This figure increases as firms got larger, to 50% of firms with 5-10 partners (Up from 34% in 2016) and 64% of firms with 11-25 partners (Up from 44%  in 2016).

Most common forms of scam were spam emails/phishing. Others included: Malware/computer viruses, cyber attacks, telephone calls/vishing and invoice fraud.

The two main responses were taking internal activity (such as increased cyber security training and additional checks, balances and reminders) and updating existing security systems.

Firms contacted the police in 19% of all cases.

Approximately 42% of firms surveyed with 5-10 and 11-25 partners now have cyber insurance in place – and almost all of the others have at least considered it – although the figures fall for smaller firms.

We are interested in hearing from you about your Cyber insurance experience… Are you looking to take out Cyber Insurance for your business? Or if you already have cyber insurance, has your experience been a positive of negative one?

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Nearly 500 law firms targeted by fraudsters in new email scam

The Law Society Gazette published a report confirming that fraudsters have attempted to infiltrate the IT systems of hundreds of firms.

In an update published by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the regulator said it has seen increasing reports of attempted cyber-crime and warned solicitors to be wary of falling victim.

Firms have reported being sent emails saying their services are required: after they respond, the scammers send attachments or links to websites.

These attachments and links might contain malware which allows the perpetrators to control or undermine IT systems.

The SRA said some of the emails relate to a property sale and are sent from a ‘Margaret’ or ‘Mary Smollins’. The email [email protected] has been used to send rogue messages.

The SRA said: ‘While genuine potential clients might indeed send information in this way, law firms should be wary of the risks of malware infecting their IT systems, and take action appropriate to their business.’

Once malware is on a system, it can record everything typed over a long period to obtain passwords or financial details, copy or modify data on the system, and allow hackers to get into the firm’s network.

Firms are advised to use cloud-based computing for storing, accessing and processing information and to inform the police and SRA immediately if they have been contacted via these emails.

Other steps can include keeping software up to date, using an anti-virus system and using encryption on mobile devices. Files should also be backed up on a regular basis including at least one back-up that is not directly and regularly connected to the main systems.

In 2016 the SRA had reports of around £7m of client money being lost to cyber-crime. Almost half of all cyber attacks are aimed at small businesses.

IF YOUR FIRM HAS BEEN TARGETED IN A PHISHING OR SPOOFING ATTEMPT, OR WORSE STILL, HAS BEEN A VICTIM OF CYBER CRIME, CONTACT CYBER SECURITY HELPDESK LTD TODAY TO DISCUSS HOW WE CAN WORK TO MITIGATE THE DAMAGE CAUSED AND RESOLVE THE PROBLEM EFFICIENTLY