Biglaw
firms
—
and
law
firms,
generally
—
continue
to
find
themselves
the
victims
of
cyberattacks,
and
we’re
currently
on
pace
for
2024
to
be
the
worst
year
yet
for
law
firm
data
breaches.
The
legal
profession
certainly
isn’t
off
to
a
great
start
this
year
when
it
comes
to
cybersecurity
incidents.
Right
now,
just
five
months
into
2024,
21
firms
have
already
filed
data
breach
reports
with
state
attorneys
general
offices
(whereas
last
year,
28
breach
reports
were
filed
in
total).
According
to
the
American
Lawyer,
at
least
one
top
Biglaw
firm
has
reported
a
hack
this
year.
Taft
Stettinius
&
Hollister
—
which
brought
in
$598,000,000
gross
revenue
in
2023,
putting
it
at
No.
83
on
the
Am
Law
100
—
was
the
subject
of
a
ransomware
attack
in
late
2023.
Here
are
some
additional
details:
An
investigation
found
unauthorized
access
to
“certain
data
stored
on
a
limited
number
of
secondary
servers
and
workstations,
some
of
which
stored
client
and
personal
information,”
according
to
the
Maine
breach
report.
Personal
information
such
as
names,
addresses
and
Social
Security
numbers
of
nearly
6,000
people
were
accessed,
the
report
stated.“The
firm’s
IT
and
operations
teams
worked
around
the
clock
throughout
the
weekend,”
[privacy
and
data
security
practice
group
chair
Scot]
Ganow
said
in
a
statement
to
The
American
Lawyer.
“By
the
following
Monday,
the
firm
had
safely
restored
full
access
to
our
and
document
management
systems,
as
well
as
other
primary
systems,
enabling
us
to
fully
communicate
with
and
serve
our
clients
without
material
interruption.”The
attack
didn’t
impact
primary
systems
such
as
document
management,
email,
financial
systems
and
cloud-based
repositories,
Ganow
added.
Three
Am
Law
200
firms
—
Robinson
&
Cole;
Butler
Snow;
and
Burr
&
Forman
—
also
filed
data
breach
reports
this
year.
This
is
serious
business,
and
law
firms
of
all
sizes
need
to
be
prepared
to
stave
off
cyberattacks
before
they’re
forced
to
send
out
CYA
notices
about
how
they’re
assessing
what
data
has
been
impacted
and
which
clients
have
been
affected.
Law
Firm
Data
Breach
Reports
Show
No
Signs
of
Slowing
in
2024
[American
Lawyer]
Staci
Zaretsky is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law,
where
she’s
worked
since
2011.
She’d
love
to
hear
from
you,
so
please
feel
free
to
email
her
with
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questions,
comments,
or
critiques.
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