Legal firms are being increasingly targeted by hackers according to the Cyber and Fraud Centre – Scotland.
Members of the legal profession are being urged to stay vigilant and do all they can to protect themselves online following a recent uptick in cyberattacks.
Jude McCorry, CEO, Cyber and Fraud Centre – Scotland, said: “We have seen an increase of reported cyberattacks in Scotland around the small-to-medium-sized legal profession, but also seen evidence of unreported attacks over the last few weeks.
“We would urge the small-to-medium-sized legal businesses to have a think about what kind of data they are custodians of and what the repercussions would be if this data was released onto the dark web.
“The data could be details of criminal trials, victim statements and personal client information. That could include wills and testaments where the financial positions of individuals and their bank details could get into the hands of serious and organised criminals.”
She added: “Once these details are in the public domain they can be used very convincingly for banking scams like “opportunities” for gold, watch or Bitcoin investment, often preying on vulnerable or elderly people.
“We understand that budgets maybe tight around cybersecurity for the smaller companies but the legal profession need to weigh up the risk against the data they hold, and ensure they are doing everything they can to protect this data.”
Cyber and Fraud Centre – Scotland is running a webinar aimed at helping legal firms to protect sensitive client information against the increasingly sophisticated cyber threat landscape.
The free event, which starts at 11am, seeks to empower legal professionals with the ‘knowledge and tools to bolster their cyber security measures’.
McCorry added: “As a not for profit we are in a position to help these smaller organisations understand the implications and prepare and protect themselves.
“They can join up to our webinar or give us a call to discuss the support we can give.”