Law Firm Cybersecurity: Whose Responsibility Is It? 

Here’s how everyone in your firm, from the top down, plays a part in keeping the firm secure, healthy and growing.
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Who’s responsible for law firm cybersecurity? Here’s how everyone in your firm, from the top down, plays a part in keeping the firm secure, healthy and growing.

Cyberthreats that tend to make the news, particularly breaches involving the personal information of many individuals, are typically those against large, well-known companies. But data theft, malware and ransomware incidents also occur against smaller organizations. Virtually no sector is immune from risk—and that includes both large and small law firms.

(Read “Our Firm Is Too Small to be Targeted by a Cyber Attack: Wrong!”)

According to the Firewall Times, a recent study estimated that cybercriminals targeted 61% of all SMBs in America in 2023. They were the victim in 43% of all successful data breaches, and in organizations with fewer than 500 people, the average attack costs over $3 million. But falling prey to a cyberattack isn’t just expensive in the short term; in the long term, it can cause permanent damage to an organization’s reputation and hamper future growth.

Everyone In the Firm Has a Role to Play in Cybersecurity Defense

It only takes one person making a single mistake to initiate a major incident, which is why keeping your firm safe takes more than just an IT team. Protecting against incidents involves everyone, so it’s essential to have at least basic cybersecurity training for employees at every level. And while the whole firm has a role to play, fighting back against attackers relies on having the right resources and skill sets in place. If you can’t match up your roster to all the necessary roles and responsibilities, consider outsourcing for the right help to fortify your defenses rather than letting cybersecurity gaps grow.   

Here’s how each employee, from the top down, plays a vital part in keeping the firm secure, healthy and growing:

Managing Partner/CEO

As the organization’s leader, cultivating a cybersafe environment is paramount. A breach has vast business implications, including financial, regulatory and reputational risk. Firm-wide reminders and actionable security programs initiated by leadership reinforce that staying safe from all threats is a top priority.

Managing partners or CEOs should appoint a cyber leader to share your message throughout the organization. And start early—the best time to bolster cybersecurity is before an attack, not after. Create an incident response plan and schedule practice drills to ensure employees know exactly what to do.

(Read: “Law Firm Cybersecurity Awareness: Training for Employees Has Never Been More Critical.”)

CISO or CIO 

Even with a top-tier IT team, proper security measures are essential to protect any SMB, including law firms. Implementing cybersecurity plans is typically the responsibility of the organization’s chief information security officer, who supports the managing partner or CEO in developing those critical plans, including an incident response plan, disaster recovery plan and business continuity plan.

A CISO or CIO will ensure a robust training plan covers things like how to set up multifactor authentication, catch phishing emails and escalate threat response. The CISO tracks the firm’s progress and gives management frequent feedback to emphasize the importance of cybersecurity and cyber health metrics to share with partners, investors and the board, if applicable.

In the absence of someone to take on these responsibilities, consider outsourcing rather than delegating them to another employee or trying to hire a qualified CISO, understanding that the role isn’t just for large organizations. Small firms benefit from the expertise of someone in an information security leadership position, even if on a part-time or fractional basis, or virtual instead of in-person.

IT Lead 

Don’t just hope that everyone will follow best practices—the IT lead must enforce them. Require multifactor authentication as an effective measure against hackers; ensure that users with admin privileges know best practices; enforce a least privilege system to minimize the risk of information exposure; and keep up to date on known exploited vulnerabilities. You must also test your firm, as often as possible, to find vulnerabilities before hackers do, and be bold about asking for resources from firm management.   

All Employees 

Everyone—from partners, midlevel managers and support staff to new hires, part-time or remote workers and interns—must remain on guard against cyberattacks. Be aware of common phishing, scamming and hacking techniques, and never be afraid to ask if something is a scam. Never click on unknown links, and always use multifactor authentication because it can prevent mistakes from exploding into incidents.

Remember: Everyone, including you, plays a role in cybersecurity, regardless of your position. When the entire organization works together, you can reduce the risk of cyberthreats.

Cyber Insurance for Law Firms

Even with the best-trained people and the best security protocols in place, cyberattacks do still occur.

For this reason, law firms, like other businesses, are wise to consider cyber insurance.

Recovering from a cyberattack can be costly. Cyber insurance can help cover the costs of forensic investigations, system repairs, data recovery, business interruption, ransom reimbursement and crisis management.

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FAQs About Law Firm Cyber Insurance

What Is Cyber Insurance?

The main types of cyber insurance coverage for law firms are first-party and third-party cyber liability insurance. Most cyber insurance policies include both types of coverage.

First-party cyber liability insurance covers direct losses, such as data recovery and restoration, business interruption, crisis management, forensic investigations, and ransom or cyber extortion payments. It may also cover fund transfer or wire transfer fraud, a common concern for law firms.

Third-party cyber liability insurance protects law firms from liability claims related to data breaches or incidents involving client or third-party information. It typically covers legal fees, settlements, damages, and fines and penalties.

Additional types of cyber insurance for law firms include:

• Network security liability insurance covers damages from cyberattacks that disrupt a firm’s network, including data loss recovery expenses.
• Privacy liability insurance covers expenses arising from misuse of personal data and data breaches that expose private information, as well as legal defense costs, settlements and fines related to privacy law violations.
• Errors and omissions insurance covers professional negligence claims and legal defense costs and damages. Firms that provide cybersecurity consulting services opt for this insurance.

What Does Law Firm Cyber Insurance Cost?

Depending on firm size, types of practices, annual income, amount of sensitive data handled, risk management policies in place and your deductible, average cyber insurance costs can hover around $1,500 to $1800 per year for $1 million in coverage.

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