What Do Law Firms Need to Know About Cloud Cybersecurity?

Recent high-profile data breaches of internal IT systems at major international firms are causing clients to increase the scrutiny of their outside counsels' cybersecurity efforts. Now, more than ever, it's essential to ensure law firms are doing everything they can to safeguard their clients' data against ever-evolving threats. At times, this seems like it might require a PHD in security and data governance ' a role even a law firm chief information security officer is not singularly equipped to take on.

Rather than trying to address today's increasingly demanding security requirements all on their own using traditional systems and means, law firms and corporate legal departments are increasingly looking to trusted cloud-based solutions that have been purpose-built to safeguard client data. A 2015 Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) survey of 200 IT and security professionals revealed that “64.9% of IT trusts the cloud as much or more than on-premises.” The recent 2015 ILTA Technology Survey'further underscores this trend, stating that only 4% of law firm respondents cited “cloud apps/data security” as a major security challenge compared to the broader concern of “balancing security with usability.”