Hackers are smarter than dumbass lawyers

Davey Winder
Monday, 27 October 2008 18:10

Your IT - Home IT

A new survey of UK legal firms has revealed that many are putting clients at risk by admitting to losing mobile devices containing confidential client data. How many? How does a dumbass 24 percent grab you?

The survey, by IT security specialists Credant Technologies, was attempting to discover just how the legal profession view the subject matter of 'security, mobile devices and end-point security' but it cannot have expected the answers it received.

It would seem far from being the careful guardians of client data that you might expect, and given the nature of the data concerned it is not an unreasonably expectation, many lawyers are somewhat slapdash with your securing your information.

No less than 24 percent of those questioned admitted to 'misplacing' at least one mobile device containing confidential data, leaving clients vulnerable to the discovery of their case notes, contracts and other highly valuable information.

Some 37 percent of the lawyers surveyed said that they believed if they did lose their mobile devices then the data upon them would be insecure and vulnerable to hackers. Indeed, some even confessed that hackers are "cleverer than the average lawyer."

Only 13 percent of the law firms questioned were using data encryption to protect the information and remained confident it could not be breached if the device were to be misplaced.

So much for the projected image of the clever lawyer, often perceived as the savviest of professions. This survey would seem to reveal them to be, on the whole, just as much of a bunch of dumbasses as the many others to hit the data loss headlines.

If you need proof of this, just look at the statistic that more than 90 percent of lawyers questioned think that data is adequately protected by a simple password. Throw in the fact that 20 percent are storing confidential, corporate and sensitive data on their own personal mobile devices and, well, DUMBASS, DUMBASS, DUMBASS!

As hacker-turned-security-consultant Robert Schifreen says "You can download cracking software from Google that can break the average password in less than 30 minutes. These findings show just how naive the legal profession is when it comes to data security."