Cybersecurity Best Practices for Lawyers in Tennessee
The data that you have is incredibly valuable, from your clients’ payment information to the sensitive details they share with you during a case. And hackers have a variety of methods they can use to extract that data from you and your firm, like malware infections, spam, and social engineering (i.e. pretending to be someone you know).
They can even hack into your system through a compromised partner or third-party vendor (e.g. software provider, file transfer system, LLM, etc.).
As a lawyer, it’s your job to defend your clients when it comes to legal matters. Considering the high cost of a cybersecurity attack and data breach, it’s a wise move to ensure you can defend their data from nefarious parties, too.
In this post, we’ll have a look at some cybersecurity best practices for lawyers as well as research that shows why it’s so critical to take data security and privacy seriously.
5 Cybersecurity Best Practices for Lawyers and Law Firms
A recent DeepStrike report of aggregated data dug into cybersecurity breaches in the legal space. It revealed the following:
About 29% of law firms have experienced a security breach. In just the last year, that number rose to 39%.
If you’re a lawyer or law firm practicing in Tennessee, here are some cybersecurity best practices that can help keep your firm from falling victim to an attack:
1. Keep Your Work and Personal Devices Separate
Even if your firm doesn’t have a remote or hybrid work policy, that doesn’t mean you don’t occasionally bring work home with you. To ensure your work-related data stays confidential and protected, only access it from fully secured, work-only devices.
Taking it a step further, enable multi-factor authentication on each of your work devices so that if they get lost or stolen, it’ll be that much harder for someone to break in.
2. Encrypt All Your Data and Communications
Encryption is a means of concealing data and transmissions. The information is altered so that it appears to be random data to interceptors.
There are many areas in your law firm where encryption would be valuable. For instance:
- Computer and smartphone drives
- Document processing
- File storage and backup
- Document transfer tools
- Email communications
- Video conferencing software
With encryption you can keep all kinds of data safe, like financial information, insurance records, client data, sensitive reports, and more.
3. Only Use Software from Trusted Vendors
Do an audit of all the software you use in your legal business. Start by researching which tools you and your team use, from case management software to even LLM/AI. Then, find out what their data security policies are. If you cannot find their policies, contact them directly.
These policies should contain details like:
- What data they capture
- Where it’s stored
- How long it’s stored
- If it’s shared with other parties
- Server facility security practices
- Any relevant standards they comply with (like HIPAA or SOC 2)
If you are using software that accesses any of your data, they should have as strict of a cybersecurity policy as you do. If they don’t, find an alternative.
4. Enact a Strict Cybersecurity Policy Company-Wide
Whether you operate a private practice or work for a large law firm, every single person who works for or with you should be trained on your cybersecurity policy. It should include things like:
- Securing hardware
- Auditing software
- Encrypting your network
- Creating strong passwords
- Managing user access
- And more
If you don’t yet have a cybersecurity policy for your law firm, start with this 58-point cybersecurity checklist. It will walk you through everything your company needs to establish a baseline level of security.
5. Consider Getting Cyber Liability Insurance
According to the Tennessee Bar Association:
“A review of the need for cyber insurance coverage should be a part of the risk assessment process for law firms of all sizes.”
DeepStrike reported that, of the firms that were breached, 56% of them had data that either got lost or was exposed. (As a whole, 8% of firms surveyed reported data loss.)
What’s more, when ransomware was involved, the average ransom to keep their data from being leaked or exploited was $1 million (this was reported in 2023). In 2024, the average ransom that law firms paid was $501,388.
As we detailed in this blog post on the cost of a security breach, the average cost of investigation and recovery is $77,957. That’s just what’s been reported by SMBs and it doesn’t account for the high cost of ransoms.
If you can’t afford the costs of a data breach, then cyber insurance can help mitigate the ensuing monetary and reputational damage to your firm.
Protect Your Tennessee-Based Legal Practice Now
Only about 25% of lawyers and law firms feel confident that they could deal with a cybersecurity incident and its consequences. Are you one of them?
If not, then it’s time to explore cybersecurity solutions for your practice. And, not only that, but cybersecurity solutions designed specifically for the legal industry.
When you’re dealing with complex cases, clients that need you, and a range of other needs as a legal professional, you should be able to rely on your technology to get the job done.
At Magnum Computer Services, we’ve provided countless middle Tennessee law firms with IT services they need at a cost that suits their budget. In addition, we provide ongoing support so you can rest assured that any issue will be resolved immediately. Security is also essential, which is why we provide your firm with the top-of-the-line cybersecurity solutions, both onsite and in the cloud.
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