Cyber insurance underwriting is now a technical audit. Insurers verify controls with external scans, require evidence not attestations, and deny claims when forensic review finds gaps that were attested away.
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Twenty-nine percent of law firms have suffered a security breach, per the ABA's 2023 Legal Technology Survey, rising to 60% for firms of 500 or more attorneys. Password-related compromises are among the leading causes: credential theft, password reuse, and phishing attacks targeting attorney credentials don't require sophisticated exploitation. Law firms also face an ethical dimension, most state bar rules now treat inadequate security as a competence and confidentiality issue.
IT systems don't have a check engine light. You find out your backup hasn't completed in three weeks, a former employee's account is still active, or a core server is out of headroom when something breaks, which is the worst time to find out. Datto's 2023 ransomware report found unplanned downtime costs SMBs an average of $8,000 per hour.
Twenty-nine percent of law firms have suffered a security breach, according to the ABA's 2023 Legal Technology Survey. Credential theft, ransomware, and business email compromise are the leading attack vectors, and smaller firms are targeted precisely because they hold valuable data without enterprise-grade defenses.
When a manufacturer hit by ransomware waited three days to contact the FBI, critical forensic evidence had been overwritten and attackers had already pivoted to a second facility. The DOJ's Cybersecurity Unit published its incident response best practices specifically to prevent that outcome.
Most businesses treat cybersecurity as a cost center. The ones that win more contracts treat it as a differentiator. Enterprise clients, healthcare systems, and defense primes all require vendors to demonstrate security posture before awarding work, through questionnaires, BAAs, and CMMC certification status. A documented security program answers those questions, removes friction from procurement, and opens doors to clients and industries that would otherwise be out of reach.