Cyber attacks on law firms jumped by 77% over the past year


The number of successful cyber attacks against UK law firms rose by 77% in the past year to 954, up from 538 the year before, according to a new study of the threat. Chartered accountants Lubbock Fine said that the wave is driven by criminals seeing law firms as prime targets for ransomware attacks or blackmail.

This is due to the sensitive personal and financial information they hold, which hackers can sell on the dark web or threaten to publish on the internet. Earlier this month, a global survey revealed that ransomware attackers have been paid off at least eight times in recent years.

Read more…
Source: The Law Society Gazette 


Sign up for our Newsletter


Related:

  • U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts

    February 7, 2025

    Security officials in the United Kingdom have demanded that Apple create a back door allowing them to retrieve all the content any Apple user worldwide has uploaded to the cloud, people familiar with the matter told The Washington Post. The British government’s undisclosed order, issued last month, requires blanket capability to view fully encrypted material, not ...

  • Engineer IMI becomes latest British firm to be hit by cyber attack

    February 6, 2025

    Engineering group IMI confirmed it had been hit by a cyber attack just a week after rival Smiths Group said hackers had gained access to its global systems. Birmingham-headquartered IMI declined to disclose what data had been accessed in the attack, but systems in a number of its locations globally are understood to have been hit. IMI ...

  • Barclays customers continue to experience issues after major IT outage

    January 31, 2025

    Barclays customers are continuing to experience intermittent errors with payments and transfers after serious IT problems that also affected the bank’s app and online banking. Customers have told the BBC it is preventing them making essential transactions, ranging from buying baby milk to completing a house move. Barclays says cards and cash machines can be used ...

  • UK: Whitehall is at risk from hackers due to poor cyber defences

    January 29, 2025

    Whitehall departments are at growing risk of being hacked because anti-cyber attack defences are ‘lower’ than thought, an alarming report has found. The inquiry by the National Audit Office (NAO) was branded a ‘wake-up call’ for officials to step-up defences against hostile actors.It identified a shortage of cyber skills within departments and risks posed by outdated ...

  • UK’s Morrisons says cyber attack at technology provider hit Christmas sales

    January 29, 2025

    British supermarket group Morrisons said a November cyber attack at technology provider Blue Yonder hit its product availability, impacting sales in the Christmas quarter. CEO Rami Baitieh said the attack meant Morrisons had to shut down its warehouse management system, leaving it without visibility on its fresh and produce stock levels for several days. Read more… Source: MSN ...

  • TalkTalk investigating data breach after hacker claims theft of customer data

    January 27, 2025

    U.K. telecoms giant TalkTalk has confirmed that it is investigating a data breach after a hacker claimed to have stolen the personal information of millions of customers. In a post on a popular cybercrime forum seen by TechCrunch, an individual using the alias “b0nd” claimed to have stolen the personal data of more than 18.8 ...