How can lawyers find cybersecurity ?

Experts say that law firms can give themselves the best protection by first hiring outside companies to perform vulnerability assessments. Once law firms know where they are most at risk, they can better determine where they need to spend money and effort, such as on training their employees and buying insurance to help cover their costs for the likely occurrence of a major data breach.

“It’s certainly worth it for everybody in a company or a firm to have the most up-to-date firewalls and anti-virus software. That’s just a cost of doing business, but cybersecurity doesn’t end there,” says Eric B. Levine, an attorney specializing in privacy issues and a shareholder at Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper in Westfield, New Jersey. “Every company and every law firm has to do a cost-benefit analysis about making investments in cybersecurity.”

The cost for a vulnerability assessment varies. Privacy Ref, a cybersecurity consulting company in Delray Beach, Florida, for example, will run a vulnerability assessment for about $30,000 and then, depending upon the remediation needed, will address privacy issues for either a fixed price or on an hourly basis. Levine’s law firm charges a negotiable fixed rate for overseeing and managing the vulnerability assessment. In addition, there’s a fee from the vendor performing the technical assessment.