Law Firms Are the Target Now; Hacking the System

Computer hacking continues to gain international notoriety as a means of Machiavellian advancement for the perpetrators and consumers of hacked information.  Traditional targets for computer hacking are governments and multinational corporations.  Hacking has replaced many types of espionage made famous by James Bond.  In April 2016, a major hacking incident was reported at Mossack Fonseca & Co., a Panamanian law firm, and a huge trove of hacked data on clients was released to the public.  The data, now referred to as “the Panama Papers” exposed how moneyed interests use tax havens and shell corporations to dodge lawful taxation.

In a similar situation state-side, 3 Chinese nationals are facing criminal charges for hacking into networks and servers of law firms working on major corporate mergers and transactions.  Prosecutors allege the men made $4 million on insider trading with information obtained by hacking the law firm’s involved in those deals.

Law firms are supposed to be citadels of confidential information.  Clients are now being unwittingly exposed to serious damages by the revelation of confidential material entrusted for safe-keeping with their attorneys.  Cyber security review should be a top priority, but traditional computer firewall protection may not be enough to protect client information from hackers.