The number of successful cyber attacks against UK law firms rose by 77% in the past year to 954, up from 538 the year before, according to a new study of the threat.
Chartered accountants Lubbock Fine said that the wave is driven by criminals seeing law firms as prime targets for ransomware attacks or blackmail. This is due to the sensitive personal and financial information they hold, which hackers can sell on the dark web or threaten to publish on the internet. Earlier this month, a global survey revealed that ransomware attackers have been paid off at least eight times in recent years.
‘The data that law firms hold on behalf of their clients is often highly sensitive – and therefore, valuable if you intend to blackmail a law firm,’ said Lubbock Fine partner Mark Turner. ‘This makes them a very attractive target. Hackers will often demand a blackmail payment from law firms or threaten to post that sensitive data on the internet.’
Another tactic is to lock firms out of their own data until a ransom is paid.
Nearly three quarters of the UK’s top 100 law firms have been impacted by cyber-attacks, according to a report by The National Cyber Security Centre.
Turner said that, in the face of such attacks, law firms need stronger cyber defences than most businesses. ‘This might include segregating data across different departments, teams and individual clients,’ he said.
