Security Awareness Training for Law Firms:
In today’s business with the ever increasing and evolving cybersecurity threat landscape, cybercriminals are becoming more and more creative. The greatest threat vector to any organization is through their employees. Acts don’t have to be malicious to cause great harm to an organization. An oversite, mistake, or careless act can lead to a successful breach causing organizations hundreds of thousands of dollars in ransom payments, lost revenue, recovery costs, and reputational impact.
Specific to law firms, attorneys handle sensitive and confidential client information every day. This information can range from personal client data to highly confidential documents. Due to the evolving technical landscape and the changing way in which business is conducted, this data is often transmitted and stored electronically. Due to the types of information handled, and the way in which it is stored, it is crucial that attorneys and their associates are well versed in cybersecurity best practices to ensure information is safe and protected. This is why it is becoming increasingly more important that all attorneys and their associates are educated on how to identify a threat and avoid the seemingly harmless action that may lead to a breach; this is where an effective security awareness training and testing program comes into play.
What is Security Awareness Training?
Security awareness training is the process of educating employees about the potential threats and vulnerabilities that exist within the current technical landscape. This training is meant to equip employees with the knowledge necessary to identify and respond to possible cyber threats in order to prevent them from occurring.
Security awareness training can cover a wide range of topics. This includes password management, email security, best practices for public Wi-Fi use, and how to reduce your likelihood of becoming a victim of cybercrime. Security awareness training programs should be updated regularly and reflect current cyberthreats and vulnerabilities. An effective program will include periodic testing to ensure employees comprehend and apply the principles they’ve been taught.
The Importance to Law Firms
One of the primary threats facing attorneys and law firms today is cyber-attacks targeted at their employees. These attacks can come in many forms, including phishing scams, social engineering, malware, or ransomware attacks. The information transmitted and stored as part of attorneys day to day business makes law firms rich targets for hackers and cybercriminals. A successful cyber-attack can result in stolen client data, damaged reputation, regulatory penalties, and significant financial losses.
Additionally, due to certain legal and ethical obligations requiring lawyers to protect client data, and regulatory requirements including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), law firms may be required to implement and maintain security awareness training programs in order to comply with industry regulations, depending on what data is stored and transmitted by each law firm.
Finally, as lawyers are required to obtain continuing education credits related to technology and security, in many states, security awareness training can assist in satisfying these requirements.
How Vivitec Helps Address Solves These Issues
Security awareness training is an essential component of any cybersecurity strategy for attorneys and their firms. By providing this training to employees, and establishing a security awareness training program, attorneys and their associates can further understand the potential threats and vulnerabilities, comply with industry regulations and standards, and create a culture of cybersecurity within the organization.
Vivitec offers customized solutions to implement an effective security awareness training program in your firm. Our training services offer regular training sessions, facilitated by globally acclaimed cybersecurity speakers. The training sessions reflect current threats and vulnerabilities and allow lawyers and law firms to stay up to date on the current cybersecurity threat landscape. Vivitec also provides phishing exercises that allow practical training and exercises, helping clients gain real world practice in identifying phishing attempts.
Vivitec will work with your firm to balance your business needs with cost and risk tolerance to tailor, implement, and maintain a security awareness training program for your firm that helps to satisfy legal, ethical, and regulatory guidelines, all while establishing a culture of cybersecurity within your firm and helping to achieve certain continuous education requirements.
Post provided by Vivitec.
