Access Control and Identity Management in Law Firms

Identity and access controls determine who can download, read, or edit sensitive data. Without access controls, you can’t identify when threats make unauthorized data requests. Compliance regulations also require legal professionals to have auditing and access controls in place when working with sensitive data, such as financial information or healthcare records. A good access control and identity management system determines who, when, what, and how data can be retrieved. 

When you have thousands of client records with numerous staff members, knowing who can access them protects your clients’ privacy and gives you an audit trail of data requests. Every time a record is accessed or edited, the identity management system ensures the user is authorized and records the date, time, and user account information. Should the organization suffer from a data breach, audit trails can be sent to law enforcement and used during legal discovery. 

TitanHQ offers solutions for email archiving and identity management to safeguard your client data against unauthorized access. Content filtering and email security also protect against insider threats and phishing attacks, which are used to download malware and perform eavesdropping on your network. Solutions are compliant with the latest standards, including HIPAA, PCI DSS, and FINRA. 

The Role of Identity Management and Access Controls in the Legal Profession 

Think of access controls as your first line of defense when a user requests data. Access controls are also necessary for applications. When you have multiple applications requesting access to data, they must also be authorized and gatekept. Identity management is the database system that contains user accounts and their permissions. Both user accounts and authorization to access data are verified before users and applications obtain data. 

Identity management and access controls are used in every industry, but legal professionals integrate these solutions to verify, monitor, and audit data requests. Let’s say that you have all client data stored on a local drive. An identity management tool contains users on the network. An identity management tool could be on the local network or outsourced to the cloud, like AWS or Azure. 

Each user in the identity management tool can have one or multiple permissions. Typically, users are grouped and then assigned permissions within those groups. This type of organization makes it easier to add and remove permissions for entire departments. Departments usually have the same access to data, with managers and executives having slightly elevated permissions. For example, regular financial staff might have access to client financial information, but managers have access to case details. 

When users access local storage to open client data, the system utilizes the identity management solution to verify that the user account exists and that the user has the necessary authorization to read the data. Identity management can go even further, controlling who can change and delete data. Only after a user is validated can they access data. These access controls are necessary to protect from unauthorized access. 

These guidelines are vague but precise enough that attorneys know that they need a solution for each requirement. For example, they need a solution to monitor data access, but the requirement is vague enough to allow the law firm to determine the best solution and the optimal way to configure and deploy it. Lawyers might need guidance from a professional, but requirements give each law firm the flexibility to design its own cybersecurity infrastructure. 

Monitoring tools also log events, allowing administrators to be alerted to any unusual access requests, particularly those that are consistently rejected. This type of activity may indicate malware on the network. User account, IP address, the data and time, and data requested are just a few items logged when users request data on the network. 

Audit trails are crucial in responding to data breach incidents. Some threats can persist on a network for months before being detected. Intrusion detection systems are helpful, but advanced persistent threats, zero-day attacks, and insider threats are more challenging to detect. Once detected, an incident response plan is implemented to help administrators contain the threat. This step is important for reasonable mitigation during a data breach. 

Taking Additional Steps to Secure Client Data 

Identity management and access controls are an essential part of a security strategy, but they aren’t a comprehensive strategy. Businesses require additional forms of security to protect their data, especially if an attacker discovers a bypass or vulnerability in their current cybersecurity infrastructure. If malware gains access to your network, it may use staff credentials to access sensitive data, so you need cybersecurity solutions that block malware and malicious activity from gaining unauthorized access to the environment. 

For example, PhishTitan and SpamTitan block malicious messages from reaching the inboxes of law firm staff. Phishing and spam are two primary attack vectors for malware, and users are often the primary vulnerability for any business. By adding cybersecurity to your email servers, law firms significantly reduce their risk of malware manipulating and exploiting any identity management vulnerabilities. Email security solutions block malicious messages and attachments from accessing user inboxes and store them in a safe location where administrators can further review their content. 

WebTitan blocks users from browsing malicious websites and adds to your data protection. Phishing websites and websites containing malware are also popular attack vectors. Users are tricked into downloading malicious executables, which are then used to download ransomware or deploy malware that can eavesdrop on data. Trojans are also downloaded onto user devices, allowing attackers to remotely control them. Blocking endpoint vulnerabilities also greatly reduces the risk of a data breach from compromised desktops and mobile devices. 

Every law firm should ensure that it has the right cybersecurity solutions in place, including identity management, access controls, and filtering solutions that protect against exploits. Cybersecurity solutions, such as from TitanHQ, cover many common threats, including those that target human vulnerabilities, data eavesdropping, spam, and phishing. We also offer security awareness training for staff, enabling them to recognize threats, prevent them from escalating, and report them before they can damage data. 

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