25% of law firms have experienced a security breach.
Your client is protected by attorney-client privilege, meaning if there is a breach on your site, you’ll be held liable for any sensitive information that is compromised.
A complete disregard for law firm cybersecurity could cost you your career, practice, and reputation. It could also cost a client millions of dollars.
Keep reading for a few tips you should start practicing today to keep your professional website secure.
There are third party encryption services all over the web. There are companies that can securely store sensitive information for a price.
None of it will do any good if you aren’t careful with your digital information. No third party can keep you from making poor decisions.
If you have your own private practice or you’re a partner at a small firm, chances are that you have a WordPress site.
Maybe you paid an intern to make it for you, or one of your paralegals makes websites on the side. Chances are pretty good that you don’t know much about them other than how to log in.
That needs to change. The first step in law firm cybersecurity is proactivity.
WordPress has a few plugins that can help to boost your proactivity.
You can find plugins that will limit your login attempts to certain number. There are other plugins that will rename your actual login page’s URL from “/login” to something less obvious.
There are dozens of additional premium plugins providing enhanced security and firewall protection.
When available, always use multi-step verification. This includes social sites and message boards.
The easiest way to do this is to submit a phone number. The site in question will send a text message with a code. You will not be given access to the account until this code has been verified.
However, this is the least secure method. There are other ways to set-up authentication that are more of a hassle, but are harder to hack.
You are the biggest threat to your law firm cybersecurity. What’s your password?
Is it 1password? Password1234?
If so, you’re asking for it. Most of today’s hackers use a form of bot to guess your password.
It will continue to go through commonly used ones until it hits a winner.
Your password you be 12-18 characters long. It also should not be an actual word. It should be completely random and written down in a secure location should you forget it.
Keep your personal life and private life separate. Do not use any personal information on your professional websites. Don’t let your kids play games on work devices.
Don’t let employees come up with their own passwords or use their work devices for personal use. They should stay on premises. Could you imagine if there was a car accident and an employee lost a device with sensitive information on it?
You could be the one cleaning up that disaster in more ways than one.
When it comes to law firm cybersecurity, you can be the difference between success and failure, so take it seriously.
If you can’t or don’t have the time and patience to learn, then look into a reputable third party to handle it for you.
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