Alex Bransome, chief information security officer at IT services company Doherty Associates, sets out the five main cybersecurity threats to the UK legal sector, along with advice on how to construct a robust defence to each.
Bransome explains the threats and defences in accessible language. The necessity of vigilance against cybercrime cannot be overstated. Likewise, top level security and safeguards are vital to maintain client confidence.
Bransome points out, ‘as cyber threats continue to evolve, legal firms with robust defences will stand out from the competition’.
Meanwhile, a recent Court of Appeal case has suggested software developers could be held accountable in cryptocurrency hacking cases. Lauren Pardoe, partner in Rosling King’s dispute resolution group, looks at the questions raised by Tulip Trading (a Seychelles company) v Van Der Laan & Ors. The case explored whether the developers of cryptocurrency networks, working on behalf of bitcoin owners, are accountable as fiduciaries if networks are hacked.
The English and Welsh courts’ openness to considering how legal principles can be applied and even extended is a subject of huge interest for the crypto sector. As Pardoe writes, ‘cryptocurrency is a new and fast-developing area, in which there has to date been little in the way of judicial intervention, and in which there is little regulation’.
Read Alex Bransome's article here, and Lauren Pardoe's here.
