Recent years have seen a rapid evolution of legal services, and one shift that appears to be here to stay is remote working. With lawyers and staff working outside the traditional security zone of the office, more firms are using cloud-based applications to enable remote productivity but provide opportunity for attacks. Unfortunately, cyber criminals are aware of this and are taking advantage. With the number of privileged data firms often protect, they are always a target. This is why cyber resilience has never been more crucial.
What is cyber resilience?
This is a term used to describe your firm's ability to identify, prevent, detect and respond to the technological and process-related consequences of a cyber attack. It also relates to your organization's ability to recover from those consequences, as well as minimize any negative impact on your clients, practice, reputation and finances.
How do I know there's been a ransomware attack?
Not every attack is visible and sometimes an organization might not know if there has been a ransomware outbreak until months after the initial infection. By which time huge amounts of your data will be inaccessible and under the control of cyber criminals.
However, there are some signs an individual might be able to spot on their own devices which indicate an attack has occurred, including:
- Unresponsive system
- Documents, data, photo and files encrypted
- Changed filenames
- Unable to access data
- Screens locked
If any of these things occur, it is vital that you notify your IT team immediately.
What steps can we take to protect our firm and clients against cyber attacks?
Where once our IT leaders only had to concern themselves with securing centralized locations, with servers, staff and hardware all situated under one roof, they must now consider how to proactively protect your people and data across multiple locations and devices with improved cyber resilience across the practice.
A successful cyber resilience strategy requires three critical layers:
- Awareness
- Prevention
- Remediation
AWARENESS:
Develop a cyber security incident response plan
A cybersecurity incident response plan is a document that outlines how IT and cybersecurity experts should react to a significant security event, such as a data breach, data leak, ransomware attack, or loss of critical information. A 2019 poll by the Ponemon Institute found that only 23% of all organizations have prepared cyber response plans. Learn how Ricoh can helpful in helping you prepare for a ransomware attack with our survival checklist.
Build a robust backup infrastructure
Should a cyber incident occur, your firm's critical data could be damaged or made inaccessible, disrupting firm operations, and compromising client services and case work. In such a scenario, your firm relies solely on data backups to get up and running again.
Too often, backups are not configured properly or even tested regularly, which means they cannot be restored completely when disaster strikes. This is why a robust backup infrastructure with best practice management is an essential component of cyber resilience.
A hybrid backup infrastructure utilizes both onsite and cloud technologies to provide multi-layered, foolproof data storage with encryption and secure data replication. Ricoh's turnkey hybrid backup solution provides full lifecycle management for your backups, including installation and management.
Educate firm members
Carrying out virtual training - such as phishing simulations - can be a great way to strengthen your firms first line of defence. Phishing attacks involve hackers sending seemingly legitimate and deceptive emails to your people, which include malicious links and attachments. Once a firm member clicks that link or downloads a malicious attachment, the ransomware outbreak has been initiated.
As we now rely almost exclusively on digital communications, we're more vulnerable than ever to fall for these tricks. This is why it is vital to educate your people on what to look out for -on who to notify if something seems fishy. It is then a great idea to follow up these sessions with regular reminders to keep your people vigilant at all times. But no matter how much training and education you do, people will still make mistakes - it's all about reducing risk.
PREVENTION:
Protect endpoints
Ricoh's Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) delivers differentiated endpoint protection by preventing, detecting and acting on ever-changing threats, allowing for a quick recovery when exploitations, such as ransomware, occur. In addition to delivering timely support solutions with a more intimate understanding of your environment, our service offers in-house expertise for day-to-day management of security operations and tailored program guidance - all with your success in mind.
Secure your network
An effective network infrastructure is crucial for your organization. We assist your firm in connecting to wired and wireless networks so that your staff can continue to get the job done. With Ricoh as your partner, benefit from enhanced network accessibility, dependability, performance, and security.
REMEDIATION:
Critical response
With just over 62% of Canadian organizations having suffered from a cyber incident or attempted ransomware attack, your firm's response time is of great importance. With Ricoh's RSECURE - Cyber Incident Response, you'll get expert incident support from our global security team of remote incident responders and threat analysts. Triage starts within hours, with most customers starting the recovery phase in 48 hours or less.
Establish a last line of defence
Isolation and containment is a powerful last line of defence that prevents the need for costly and time-consuming remediation. Automated ransomware containment will detect and stop attacks, even when the malware has bypassed your endpoint protection and other preventative security measure. It is a vital element of your overall security strategy, providing critical defence for a small portion of your budget.
Consult cyber security experts
Working with a strategic security partner is a fantastic way to fortify your organization against cyber attacks. By taking advantage of their experience and expertise, you can build cyber resilience and ensure continuity. Ricoh's Cyber Security Practice provides a revolutionary "Last Line of Defense". It delivers a 24/7 automated containment solution focused on stopping a ransomware outbreak as soon as encryption starts.
LET RICOH HELP YOU TAKE A PROACTIVE APPROACH AGAINST CYBER THREATS
Enjoy peace of mind from knowing that your organization is protected so you can focus on other important priorities.
Ricoh's cyber security solutions are delivered by a cross-functional team of experts that will protect your network, data and clients from the threat of cyber criminals. Be proactive and learn more today!
RICOH empowers digital workplaces by enabling individuals to work smarter. Through our portfolio of innovative technologies and services, we support organizations, law firms and corporate legal departments in their journey towards digital transformation and better business outcomes. Let us help you redefine work and change. For better.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.