Enhancing Cybersecurity for Law Firms: Best Practices for Compliance and Personal Data Protection

Law firms manage a vast amount of sensitive information, from merger deals and criminal evidence to intellectual property and personal data, making them prime targets for hackers and malicious insiders. Security breaches can lead to reputational losses, remediation costs, and penalties. That’s why strict IT requirements regulate cybersecurity for law firms.

In this article, we explore some common security breaches legal organizations might face, highlight real-world incidents, explain the latest compliance requirements, and share actionable practices to strengthen cybersecurity for law firms in 2025.

Why do law firms need to maintain robust cybersecurity?

Cybersecurity threats in the legal industry are steadily rising as attacks grow more sophisticated. According to the American Bar Association’s 2023 Legal Technology Survey Report, 29% of law firms reported at least one security breach throughout the year. 

Among the most common reasons for data breaches are insider attacks. They’re also the most costly — Ponemon Institute’s 2025 Cost of Insider Risks Report reveals that the total average annual cost of insider security incidents is $17.4 million. For law firms, insiders can be employees, interns, contractors, or even former partners with lingering access. Worst of all, insiders know the ins and outs of your cybersecurity systems and may have legitimate access to sensitive data.

Key motivations behind insider attacks include:

• Espionage — Accessing data on behalf of market competitors or other states
• Hacktivism — Leaking sensitive data for sociopolitical reasons
• Personal gain — Stealing sensitive data for insider trading or to start a new law firm
• Sabotage — Causing damage as a disgruntled or otherwise disillusioned employee.

For example, in February 2025, Australian law firm Slater & Gordon experienced a significant internal data breach. A malicious insider sent an email to all staff containing private salary and performance data and critical remarks about employees. The firm initiated a forensic investigation to identify the sender, who is believed to be a disgruntled current or former employee.

This and other similar incidents could have been mitigated by implementing the strong insider threat management and data protection tools that many cybersecurity laws, standards, and regulations require. Let’s break those down in the next section.

Data protection requirements that law firms must comply with 

Depending on your specialization, your law firm may work with various types of sensitive client information, including personal, financial, or healthcare data. Each of these types of data is protected with security standards, laws, and regulations. 

Failure to meet law firm compliance requirements may prove fatal for your business. Not only can it lead to legal trouble and investigations, but it can also damage your company’s reputation and cause a loss of clients.

Among the key regulations, laws, and standards that apply to cybersecurity for law firms, it’s worth paying special attention to the following:

US-based law firms have to follow the Model Rules of Professional Conduct developed by the American Bar Association, the biggest professional organization for lawyers in the US. The American Bar Association forms rules that make legal services safe, effective, and ethical. The ABA’s Formal Opinions 477R and 483 describe mechanisms required to monitor for data breaches, implement security measures to stop them, notify customers and clients when an incident occurs, and remediate damage after a breach. Both Formal Opinions oblige lawyers to “make reasonable efforts to prevent the inadvertent or unauthorized disclosure of, or unauthorized access to, information relating to the representation of a client.”

Legal companies that operate in the EU or manage the data belonging to EU residents have to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This document determines which types of personal data should be protected and enforces strict security measures. Non-compliance with the GDPR can lead to severe fines up to 4% of annual global turnover or €20 million (whichever is greater). Our checklist for GDPR compliance can help you meet these requirements.

The Directive on the Security of Network and Information Systems 2 (NIS2) is a framework that sets out cybersecurity requirements for critical sectors across the EU, aiming to strengthen resilience and incident response capabilities among both public and private entities. Law firms may be subject to NIS2 if they offer legal tech services, manage critical digital infrastructure, or handle high volumes of sensitive data, particularly for clients in sectors of high criticality. The fines for non-compliance with NIS2 may reach up to €10 million or 2% of the total worldwide annual turnover (whichever is higher).

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) established and maintains Special Publication 800-53, a complete set of cybersecurity practices and regulations for US federal agencies. While not mandatory, all organizations (including law firms) can benefit by following the NIST requirements, as these standards and practices ultimately verify the effectiveness of previously-implemented protection measures.

Similarly, adherence to ISO/IEC 27001 can help law firms establish a robust security framework. ISO/IEC 27001 is an internationally recognized standard that provides guidelines for implementing, maintaining, and continually improving an information security management system (ISMS). Compliance with this standard demonstrates a commitment to data security, builds client trust, and may even provide a competitive advantage to your organization. By following ISO/IEC 27001, law firms can systematically assess risks and enforce security controls.

It’s important to remember that data protection laws and recommendations can vary by country and state/province or territory. For example, law firms in Canada must adhere to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, while those operating in the UK are subject to the Data Protection Act. In the US, California law firms have to take into account the California Consumer Privacy Act, while in New York, law firms must abide by the regulations set by the New York State Department of Financial Services.

Furthermore, certain industries have regulations and standards that outline how specific types of data must be protected. For example:

• HIPAA for healthcare information
• PCI DSS for financial and credit card data
• SOX for accounting and investor information.

Compliance with these regulations and standards is essential for protecting sensitive data and avoiding costly data breaches. Below, we examine 10 best practices that can help achieve cybersecurity compliance for law firms.

10 best practices for compliance and data security in law firms

The following best practices can help you both meet regulatory requirements and build a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy. 

1. Implement robust cybersecurity policies

Solid cybersecurity for law firms starts with clearly defined information security policies. Establish written protocols for data handling, insider threat mitigation, remote work, device usage, and incident response. Well-documented policies help streamline compliance efforts and provide your teams with clear guidance on protecting sensitive data. 

2. Conduct security awareness training

People are your first line of defense and, unfortunately, the weakest link — human error is involved in 68% of data breaches, according to Verizon’s 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report. Educate your employees and partners about your organization’s policies, best cybersecurity practices, common cybersecurity attack tactics, and how to spot and report security breaches. Simulate different types of attacks to evaluate the ability of your staff to spot real threats.

3. Identify and classify the data you store and process

Ensuring proper data protection is impossible without understanding what documents contain sensitive information. Such information typically includes:

• client and employee contact information
• payment and financial details
• health data
• case information protected with non-disclosure agreements.

Use data discovery tools to locate sensitive content like client case files, HR records, and confidential communications. Map all locations of sensitive client data, classify data by risk level, and document who has access to it.

4. Encrypt sensitive data

Apply strong encryption standards — such as AES-256 — to data at rest, in transit, and in backups. That way, it’ll be impossible for hackers or malicious insiders to exploit sensitive information even if they manage to access it. It’s also worth pseudonymizing personally identifiable information so data can’t be linked to certain individuals.

5. Ensure granular access to critical systems

Limit access to sensitive data to the bare minimum by implementing the principle of least privilege and just-in-time access. Also, make sure users are authenticated via multi-factor authentication (MFA) before accessing your sensitive systems. Enable MFA on all devices, applications, and especially remote access tools. These measures will not only protect your firm from unauthorized access but also help you meet several regulatory requirements. 

6. Protect user credentials 

Enforce strong password policies and deploy a dedicated password management solution to manage, secure, and automate password provisioning for your employees, especially those with access to critical resources. Choose password managers with encrypted vaults and automated password rotation capabilities.

7. Control third parties

According to Ponemon Institute’s State of Third-party Access in Cybersecurity 2025 Report, 47% of organizations experienced a breach or attack that involved third-party network access in 2024. As law firms increasingly rely on third-party tools such as eDiscovery, payroll, or CRM systems, it’s more crucial than ever to vet all vendors for compliance, restrict their access scope, and monitor third-party sessions to see what they do inside your systems. 

8. Monitor user activity 

Advanced user activity monitoring (UAM) solutions enable you to record and review all activity on your critical endpoints — who accessed what and when, and how they interacted with your sensitive data. Deploying UAM tools can not only help you spot malicious user activity but also support compliance by offering comprehensive audit logs. 

Moreover, cybersecurity solutions with alert and incident response capabilities allow you to detect potential threats and mitigate them before they escalate.

9. Secure all endpoints within your network

Your employees’ on-premise and remote workstations both require strong protection to ensure law firm cybersecurity. Make sure that all endpoints within your network have up-to-date antivirus software and firewalls. Regularly update and patch all operating systems and applications to mitigate vulnerabilities. Be ready to block the use of unauthorized USB drives to prevent data theft and malware infections.

10. Prepare an incident response plan

If an incident still occurs, you must contain it quickly. Prepare and follow an incident response plan that covers actionable steps for:

• Detection
• Containment
• Notification
• Recovery
• Post-incident analysis.

After documenting all the processes and responsible parties, test the plan at least once a year and make adjustments if necessary.

Ensure compliance and protect sensitive data with Syteca

With solutions like Syteca, your firm can significantly enhance its inside defenses and demonstrate compliance during audits. Syteca is a comprehensive cybersecurity platform that allows you to:

• Control access to sensitive data
• Monitor user activity within your network
• Respond to security incidents in real time
• Investigate suspicious events.

The Syteca privileged access management (PAM) toolset includes features for providing temporary access to specific endpoints, manually approving access requests, and managing user rights in a couple of clicks. Two-factor authentication allows for verifying users’ identities, whereas Syteca’s secondary authentication feature helps you keep track of user activities within shared accounts. 

Syteca’s password manager enables you to store sensitive credentials in an encrypted password vault, update passwords automatically, and ensure secure password sharing between teams.

By leveraging Syteca’s user activity monitoring (UAM) capabilities, you can log all activity of regular, privileged, and third-party users. Review user sessions live online or in saved recordings via a built-in YouTube-like video player. Recordings are coupled with a set of metadata (opened files, URLs, keystrokes, connected devices, etc.) to simplify the search for a specific event.

Alerts inform you about suspicious activity on monitored endpoints. When a user violates security policies, you get a real-time notification with a link to the corresponding session. Then, you can analyze the event and act immediately — send a warning message to the user or block the session completely.

You can further investigate incidents through comprehensive reports or full session recordings. Syteca enables you to generate periodic and ad hoc reports in a forensic format to show them to auditors or provide evidence in court if necessary.

Conclusion

Ensuring compliance and solid cybersecurity for law firms is essential. This allows you to guarantee confidentiality to clients, prevent security breaches, and respond to incidents promptly.

Complying with IT requirements is a good way to ensure that your sensitive corporate data is adequately protected. Various laws, standards, regulations, and directives describe security measures and best practices for law firms.

Syteca enhances law firm IT security by helping legal companies monitor user activity inside their environment, receive alerts on suspicious activity, and respond to notifications promptly and effectively. Syteca is optimized for both small organizations and large enterprises, is simple to deploy, and comes with 24/7 technical support.