October is Cyber Security Awareness Month. Themed Secure Our World, Cyber Security Awareness Month is an internationally recognised campaign to raise public awareness about the importance of cyber security. The theme in Canada for 2024 is Generation Cyber Safe: Because online security knows no age, emphasizing that online security affects everyone, regardless of when they were born. Cyber security in law firms is especially crucial, as legal professionals handle sensitive data and play a key role in preventing fraudulent activities. We’ve compiled a few ideas to help law firms mark Cyber Month and raise awareness about online safety practices with your teams and clients.
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Cyber Security Awareness Ideas for Your Legal Team
- Establish objectives: Every successful campaign begins with an objective. Ensure you set clear goals for your campaign to avoid falling into the trap of doing things just because everyone else is doing them. Remember, organizations have different needs and are at varying levels of cyber fitness, so campaign objectives will differ. As with physical fitness, aim for sustained incremental growth so you don’t overwhelm your employees. Start with the basics to ensure foundational knowledge is in place, and then tailor campaigns year-round to increase fitness. Not sure about your organization’s current cyber fitness level? This quiz can help.
- Involve everyone: Cyber security in law firms is a shared responsibility. A breach in your firm’s systems can occur at any level, so knowledge about safety practices should not be limited to your technology team. Everyone, from management and senior partners to administrative staff, should be involved in your planned activities. The active involvement of senior staff members can encourage participation and foster engagement among your employees.
- Ideas for your clients: Involving your clients not only helps raise their awareness levels about online safety practices but also instills confidence in your firm’s commitment to cyber security and safeguarding their information. Create informative content about online safety practices and practical tips on identifying phishing scams, securing accounts with multifactor authentication, and safe password practices. Use interactive content such as infographics, videos, and quizzes, and share them via email, newsletters, your website, or social media. There’s a list of customisable resources and templates at the end of this article, which you can easily brand and share. You can also invite clients to implement these resources within their organisations to show proactive support and help build a partnership culture around cyber security. Additionally, consider hosting a virtual event or webinar highlighting your unique legal perspective on cyber security: Navigating Cyber Compliance and Regulations: What Your Business Needs to Know; Incident Response and Data Breach Preparedness: A Legal Perspective; What to Do in Case of Identity Theft. You can share anonymised client case studies or review cases in the public domain, further positioning your firm as a leader in client data protection.
- Make it personal: Aside from teaching safe practices, highlight the dangers and costs of cyber threats. Review real-life case studies of how breaches have impacted organisations and the employees of those organizations. Show potential losses in numbers and demonstrate how this can adversely affect the work environment. Doing so fosters a sense of ownership and makes individuals more aware of the impact of their actions. Additionally, remember that online safety goes beyond workplace practices. Demonstrate to your employees how cyber security matters to them personally. Give helpful tips on practicing online safety at home and on their personal devices.
- Make it memorable: Go beyond sending out emails or training videos through your corporate communications channel and think up ways to get your team truly engaged. Consider some of the following:
- Gamification: Everyone loves a good game. Planning interactive games, quizzes, competitions, phishing drills, etc., is a great way to have fun with your employees while reinforcing cyber security best practices. You may also include rewards to drive competition and increase participation. Numerous sources on the internet or organisations can help you set up interactive activities tailored to your organisation’s needs. Make sure your communications and IT teams approve of whatever resources you use. The list of resources at the end of this article is a great place to start.
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- Storytelling: Storytelling is a powerful learning tool as stories evoke emotion and help people remember things better. Create a safe space and encourage your team to share personal experiences of phishing attempts or cyber-attacks─ successful or otherwise. Sharing stories can happen in person during ‘lunch and learn’ sessions or anonymously through a digital channel, depending on your employees’ comfort level.
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- Visualisation: Placing visual cues like fun stickers, posters, or even short, animated video clips with simple reminders to lock screens, not share passwords, etc., in common areas around your office can be a great way to generate buzz and remind your team about best practices.
- Get feedback: The best way to measure the success of your campaign is to get feedback from your team. Ask for their opinions on if they found it helpful and suggestions for improvement. Try testing their knowledge after the campaign and compare it with the results pre-campaign. Take the feedback and incorporate it into your plans for the next campaign.
Cyber Safety Everyday
Staying safe and secure online is a crucial practice management consideration for law firms and legal professionals. As cyber threats continuously evolve with increasingly sophisticated perpetrators, firms must adapt their practices to remain secure and ensure business continuity.
One way to do this effectively is by deploying a comprehensive practice management solution that enables you to handle sensitive information efficiently while reducing the security risks of using multiple software tools. Unity® Practice Management is a modern, all-in-one cloud-based solution that helps you manage your practice and best serve your clients from intake to invoice. The platform offers best-in-class data encryption and privacy controls, ensuring the security of confidential information.
Book a free demo of Unity® Practice Management or visit our website to learn more about our comprehensive suite of practice management and due diligence solutions for Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia, and South Africa.
Free Cyber Security Resources
Secure Our World toolkit (Source: Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency)
Generation Cyber Safe toolkit (Source: Government of Canada)
The Inside Man (Source: KnowBe4)
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