Cybersecurity Obligations for Attorneys: Confidential Information in the Age of Cyber Crime

In recent years there has been an explosive growth in cyberattacks against all types of organizations, and law firms and individual attorneys are now increasingly becoming targets as well. Cyberattacks against lawyers are particularly problematic given lawyers’ ethical obligation to protect confidential client information.

Cybersecurity Obligations for Attorneys provides a general understanding of the scope of cyber threats facing the legal profession and details the ethical, as well as legal, obligations that attorneys are subject to. It examines the scope of obligations to prevent and/or mitigate such threats under the Model Rules and various states codes, and discusses federal and state data breach and privacy laws that may also generate obligations for lawyers. The book then examines cyber risk mitigation options—including insurance and federal safe harbor statutes—as well as general principles of cybersecurity that may be useful to lawyers. All lawyers, ranging from solo practitioners to senior manager at large firms, can benefit from the information and guidance in this book.