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LAW FIRM GROUP
March 22, 2024
mins
Cybercrime protection for law firms
March 22, 2024
mins
SUMMARY
As technology continues to advance to the benefit of law firms, valid concerns about cybercrime and fraud intensify. While digitalization can improve organizational efficacy and protect against criminal activity, it can also empower digitally-adept fraudsters to undermine firms and their clients. Despite industry action to tackle fraudulent threats, cybercrime protection for law firms needs to go further.
Innovations in technology within the treasury management space continue to develop rapidly. New digital technologies are helping to improve operational efficiencies within law firms, which can enhance clients’ services while driving better performance for partners.
Digital evolution typically enables law firms to transition from manual to automated processes, helping protect treasury management systems from cybercrime and fraud.
Fraud protection for law firms
But despite helping law firms to protect against fraud, adoption of automation can bring new risks. Law firms may come under attack from criminals seeking to utilize the very same technology to harvest data for financial exploitation, jeopardizing business continuity and client confidentiality.
Law firms vulnerable to criminal activity may experience a cyber-attack or data breach, which could incur serious costs and severe damage to their reputation.
In 2023 the total cost of cybercrime in the United States was $320 billion and is predicted to rise to $1.8 trillion by 2028.1
However, our findings suggest that law firms are taking fraud and cybercrime prevention seriously. Treasurers are reshaping day-to-day operations, deploying additional resources and taking defensive measures to maintain productivity while ensuring appropriate data and payment protection.
As the sophistication of fraud-preventing technologies increases, so too do the digital capabilities of cybercriminals. The smart functions of artificial intelligence (AI), for instance, could facilitate an environment in which fraudsters are harder to detect.
Despite the ongoing efforts by law firms to tackle cyberthreats, there are still gaps in security which could allow criminals to commit a serious breach. Automation processes to enhance cybercrime protection for law firms remain underutilized, not all employees are aware of all the dangers, and some may be complacent toward the risk of exposure.
Overall, the industry still needs more fraud-prevention measures to curb the rise in cybercrime.
