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ABA Journal – Cyberthreats 101: The biggest computer crime risks lawyers face

“Cyberattacks are on the rise, both in the number of incidents and the costs associated with the attacks. According to the ABA’s 2017 Legal Technology Survey Report, 22 percent of responding firms had been breached—an increase of 8 percentage points from the previous year’s survey. According to the ABA report, about 27 percent of firms with two to nine attorneys reported experiencing some sort of security breach, while 35 percent of firms with 10 to 49 lawyers and about one-quarter with 500 or more lawyers had suffered such an incident. In 2016, the FBI estimated that cybercrimes were on pace to be a $1 billion source of income to criminals for that year. Law firms of all sizes are attractive targets, given the type and the amount of data they collect. “Law firms are the crown jewels,” says John Reed Stark, a former chief of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Internet Enforcement. “They have valuable confidential information on things like mergers and acquisitions and intellectual property,” he says. In 2016, Cravath, Swaine & Moore and Weil Gotshal & Manges were hacked by foreign nationals who used the stolen data for insider trading schemes that netted them more than $4 million. Regardless of the size of the firm or the type of data they collect, cyber hackers use the same modus operandi for gaining access to firms…”

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