Law Firm Security Goes Back to School

Armed with technical and regulatory weapons for preventing cyber crimes, law firms must administer policies to protect client data and use the systems and services held standard by industries like medicine and banking. No one knows when disruption will take place. New methods of adverse action force executives to make more choices and decisions. All departments must merge their vigilance and join with IT services as IT takes center stage in order to stay prepared.

What Are the Choices for Preparation?

Hiring the right people is a place to begin, but this is also a formidable task in a fast-paced risk environment. It is more difficult than ever to evaluate the credentials of new hires on the basis merely of where they worked or trained. Their focus, if not their training, must be very current. An IT staff member trained in network administration still needs regular briefing on the broader technical field. In every area of practice, whether tax or IP, the challenge is to keep up with IT advances and changes once school is out, the job search ends, and real work begins.

Andrew Jurczyk, CIO at Seyfarth Shaw LLP in Chicago, has spent three decades in law firm technology. He has a healthy perspective on the challenges law firms face in cybersecurity since he first faced post-9/11 risk management. In executive management at a major firm, Jurczyk also sees many substantive changes today in the way managers must work with technical staff. More people work from home, for example, and staff are spread across the country or world. In the risk environment, education of a Cybersecurity Specialist never ends.