Another Top Biglaw Firm's Ransomware Attack Shows The Importance Of Cybersecurity

When people think of legal movies, they usually think of Legally Blonde or My Cousin Vinny. But times are changing -- they'd be better served if they thought about Blackhat. Attorney-client privilege does wonders when an adverse party wants to compel you to disclose information, but it doesn't do much in the face of key loggers. Cyber attacks are a real threat to firm security, and even large firms like Quinn Emanuel need to be wary of them. From Reuters:

An electronic discovery vendor for U.S. law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan suffered a cybersecurity attack that may have exposed client information, the firm disclosed to California authorities on Friday.

Quinn Emanuel confirmed to Reuters on Monday that "a third-party data center we use for document management for some of our clients became the victim of a ransomware attack" last year. It said the attack was "limited to a small portion of our clients and matters."

As fortunate as it is that only a small portion of clients and matters were hit in the ransomware attack, none is always preferable. The list of Biglaw firms that have been hit by hackers looks like a who's who of the industry: Jones Day, Gibson Dunn, Orrick, and others. Will your firm be the next to join the list? If you want to avoid that, your best bet would be to bolster your cybersecurity during the "just in case" phase rather than the "why didn't we just factor it into overhead" one. Your clients and your PR team will thank you.

Quinn Emanuel Reports Cyber Attack Involving 'Limited' Client Data [Reuters]

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord(TM) in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.