Got cyber liability insurance? Few lawyers say they have it, despite security breaches
Only 11 percent of lawyers responding to a technology survey said their firms had cyber liability insurance, though significant numbers reported their firms had fallen victim to computer viruses or hacking.
Many of the 880 lawyers responding to questions about tech security, however, didn’t know whether their firms had cyber liability insurance; in firms of more than 100 lawyers, more than 80 percent didn’t know if their firms had such insurance, according to Bloomberg BNA’s Big Law Business. The ABA’s Legal Technology Resource Center conducted the 2015 survey, which also got news coverage from Legaltech News.
Law firms with 100 to 499 lawyers had the largest increase in reported security breaches. Twenty-three percent of surveyed lawyers from firms of that size reported security breaches such as computer hacking, or a lost or stolen computer or smartphone, up from 10 percent last year.
Overall, 15 percent of the surveyed lawyers said their firms had experienced security breaches, while 23 percent didn’t know if their firms had experienced such breaches. Sixty percent of those who reported a security breach said there was no significant business interruption or loss.
About 42 percent of the surveyed lawyers, meanwhile, said their law firm’s computers have previously been infected with a virus, spyware or malware, while 23 percent didn’t know. Among those who reported such infections, 56.5 percent said there was no significant business disruption or loss.
