Law firms often possess highly sensitive information. Most often, the clients wouldn’t like this data to be exposed to anyone.
Law firms have the ethical obligation to protect client privacy and safety. However, on top of the ethical obligation, there are also legal regulations. These include GDPR, DORA, HIPAA, GLBA, ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, and many others.
The majority of law firm clients have concerns about cybersecurity breaches. So, ensuring the highest level of security can attract new customers and help retain existing clients. According to the 2025 Integris report, nearly 37% of respondents are ready and willing to pay a premium to those law firms that have security measures in place.
The right DMARC setup can help protect your clients and push hackers away.
Key takeaways:
- Around 29% of law firms have experienced some type of cybersecurity breach.
- Many are willing to pay a law firm more if they know their data is in secure hands.
- DMARC is an email authentication protocol that can protect your email communications from hackers.
- It can also boost your email deliverability and improve your firm’s reputation.
- If you can’t set up DMARC by yourself, you can use hosted services.
Why Are Law Firms at Risk?
In a 2023 Survey by ABA Groups, respondents were asked, “Has your firm ever experienced a security breach (e.g., lost/stolen computer or smartphone, hacker, break-in, website exploit)?” 29% of them answered yes.
Hackers often target law firms to obtain high-risk sensitive information. Accessing such data can help malicious actors obtain substantial amounts of money while also gaining control over the victim.
What Consequences May a Law Firm Data Breach Have?
The average cost of data breaches reached $4.88 million in 2024. Not having proper protection and prevention mechanisms in place may lead to:
- Breaches of ethical standards
- Regulatory penalties for non-compliance
- Being locked out of company files by ransomware attacks
- Financial losses due to ransom payments and fraudulent activities
- Legal action
- Damage to reputation, loss of existing and potential clients
In certain cases, disclosing sensitive information can have a severe impact on the victim’s life, diminishing their employment opportunities and overall quality of life.
How to Secure Law Firm Data
Here are some steps you can take to ensure data privacy and protection when handling sensitive client communications.
1. Cloud Storage Encryption
Storage of law firm data includes online backups, external hard drives, and off-site storage. Offline and off-site backups are often safe, but online storage also has its benefits. Secure online backups allow easy access anytime and anywhere without compromising security. As you ensure end-to-end encryption storage, you can take an important step toward protecting sensitive files from unauthorized access. It will also enable you to restore data after ransomware attacks without needing to pay a ransom.
2. Multifactor Authentication (MFA)
As you make MFA a requirement across all your important accounts, you make it much more difficult for hackers to access your account. Even if they already know your password information, they will still need to find out what the second authentication factor is. MFA will ensure important platforms and documents are out of the wrong hands.
3. Device encryption
Your computer contains sensitive client data, so if it’s lost or stolen, it poses a serious security risk. Enabling full-disk encryption ensures your data stays protected, even if someone gains physical access to your device or external storage.
Note: Protect not just the computer but also the smartphones (be it yours or your employees’). Many lawyers use their phones for accessing documents, checking their emails, etc., and often forget that this may come at a risk. Moreover, phones are often used as a second factor for MFA or 2FA. So, keeping it safe through methods like biometric authentication can go a long way in protecting your firm’s and clients’ data.
4. Internet Traffic Encryption
When you use unsecured WiFi in places like coffee shops, hotels, or airports, you risk putting sensitive legal information in the hands of malicious actors. This is because others on the same network may be able to intercept your data.
Therefore, you should encrypt your internet connection with a VPN to keep your files safe, no matter your location. You should also try connecting to your firm’s network only through secure, encrypted channels so that you can work remotely with the same level of protection as if you were in the office.
5. Email Authentication Protocols
Firms in the law sector often become victims of phishing, BEC, and impersonation attacks. Email authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC will help you authenticate your emails and protect you from spoofing attempts. These protocols help ensure that only legitimate senders can send emails from your domain. Moreover, implementing DMARC along with the other protocols will enable you to boost email deliverability and increase your chances of reaching the clients. Platforms like PowerDMARC provide hosted DMARC services to ensure error-free DMARC implementation even if you lack the technical knowledge and skills.
What Exactly Is DMARC?
DMARC is an email authentication protocol that helps organizations protect their domain from phishing attacks.
What Are the Main DMARC Benefits?
DMARC helps:
- Reduce the risk of phishing attacks
- Prevent spoofing by offering a mechanism to reject messages from unauthorized senders
- Reduce spam and boost deliverability
- Increase trust among clients and partners
- Gain comprehensive reporting on your email activity
- Save time and other resources otherwise spent on dealing with complaints about fake emails and phishing attempts
FAQs
1. I run a law firm. Do I need DMARC?
Yes. The email communications of law firms contain a lot of sensitive data. DMARC can help protect this data and prevent it from falling into the hands of hackers.
2. What sensitive data do I need to protect?
Court documents, case files, and anything else your client wouldn’t like to get exposed.
3. What will happen to my firm if a data breach occurs?
There can be many consequences. In some cases, you might simply lose the trust of your customers. In other cases, you might face millions of dollars in fines.
4. I’m not a tech expert. How am I supposed to set up DMARC?
You can use hosted DMARC solutions like those provided by PowerDMARC.
Summing Up
DMARC can help law firms boost email security and prevent breaches of sensitive data. If used with other protection mechanisms, DMARC can significantly reduce spoofing and phishing attacks and help improve your reputation.
Want to attract more clients and provide them with the best experience? Contact the PowerDMARC team today!