Cybercriminals are using trust to commit financial fraud.
Law firms are a prime target for cybercriminals.
Law firms have uniquely personal relationships with clients, making them highly susceptible to email fraud, especially impersonation. They also deal with some of the largest payments anyone will make in their lifetime, such as property transactions, commercial transactions, and wills. Law firms are also a prime target for criminals because of the sums involved in legal fees.
Law firms of every type and size are at risk of fraudulent email activities
Email is the tool most-used by fraudsters targeting law firms. So it’s critical that these organizations protect their brand names from all forms of abuse, and ensure that only real email sent from them ever reaches an inbox.
It’s easy for cybercriminals to gather publicly available information about a law firm, its employees, and its partners. This information can come from many sources, including the firm’s website, company and employee social media, and out-of-office emails. Additionally, it’s common practice for lawyers to have their contact details publicly available online.
The availability of this information makes it easy for fraudsters to use email to impersonate a law firm or individual lawyers for illegal gain. They can also use the information to intercept an email and change the contents for illicit gain. When this happens the financial and reputational damage can be devastating.
Law firms need take measures to protect their domains and prevent fraudsters from sending impersonating emails from their email address. Cybercriminals impersonate not just the company name, but also its styling and language, making it difficult to distinguish the fake from the real thing.
Case Study from one of the top 5 law firms in South Africa
Trusted communication
This law firm has deployed technology to stop email attacks from ever reaching its employees, customers, suppliers or partners in the first place. They have now protected their entire stakeholder community and their brand against fraudulent emails. Email communication from this law firm can now be 100% trusted.
Protecting this law firm and their community from email fraudsters
This law firm has implemented Sendmarc’s DMARC solution to actively block all illegitimate email using the law firm’s name and ensure that all legitimate emails reach the intended inbox.
Law Firms requirements
Protect against fraudsters
Safeguard the Law Firm’s name and its employees, stopping fraudsters from using the brand and employee names for illicit gain.
Delivery of legitimate email
Ensure that all clients, partners, employees and suppliers receiving email from this law firm’s email addresses can be 100% confident it’s the real thing.
Prevent invoice fraud
Stop fraudsters from intercepting payments to law firm.
Ensure email authenticity
Stop cybercriminals intercepting email and changing the message for illicit purposes.
Improve deliverability
Ensure that the deliverability of law firm’s ‘real’ emails to the intended inboxes.
Maintain trust
Ensure the highest standards of email safety and security are maintained at all times to ensure trust in the brand and its lawyers is maintained.
Results achieved with Sendmarc solutions
- Clients, employees, and suppliers can completely trust all emails bearing law firm’s name
- Real-time monitoring and proactive management of email environment to maintain p=reject status
- Reputation of law firm and brand trust protected from misuse and abuse by cybercriminals
- Protection from criminals using email to defraud law firm and their clients, providing safe and secure communication
- Real emails originating from law firm reach the intended recipient’s inbox and are not diverted to spam/junk or undelivered
- Authenticity of communication between clients and lawyers is unquestionable
- Full visibility into entire email environment
- Email environment has highest protocol standards for safeguarding the law firm’s name and ensuring only authorized senders can successfully use the brand name
- The company is now POPIA compliant having taken “the necessary measures to ensure that any personal information of data subjects that they process is appropriately protected against loss or unauthorized access by third parties” and met their duty to have “due regard to generally accepted information security practices and procedures”
- The law firm now receives reports on all legitimate and illegitimate attempts to use law firm’s name
Protect your business with Sendmarc by contacting Iposi Net.
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