Don’t gamble with website cybersecurity or client trust: turn to Vanguard
A law firm’s website security is a part of honoring attorney-client privilege. Clients expect you to safely guard their information received through a website and to be protected as they scroll through a practice’s website. It’s one of the three tenants of good websites: be secure, easy to use, and chock full of useful content and information for clients.
Securing a firm’s website protects:
- A firm’s reputation with clients/users.
- Clients’ information.
- The firm’s investment in a valuable asset.
- Financial loss from cyberattacks.
Jump to: Hacking threats Solutions
Secure our guaranteed, proven services
For 30 years we’ve specialized in implementing robust security measures tailored for professionals’ websites. It’s one part of LawMarketLink, our digital marketing-based program that guarantees practice growth of 15%-30% in one year. Contact us, etc.
Law firm website value & cybersecurity risks
A law firm’s website is a valuable asset (if it’s any good). Its value is in presenting the firm’s brand and the clients it brings in. Both require that the website is constantly fed good content and that it is properly maintained. The longer a legal website has been around and the greater its breadth of information, the more valuable it is.
A downed site is disruptive and potentially costly to get back up. Then there’s cyberattack and malware. About 30,000 websites are hacked every day, ransomware cases grew 92% in 2021, and cyberattacks have taken place at 64% of companies worldwide.
In an industry where confidentiality is paramount, being hacked is damaging. An aftershock is that 1 in 4 people won’t do business with a company they know has suffered a data breach. The web is no place to expose yourself to risks.
That’s why investing in robust cybersecurity measures isn’t just a matter of protecting digital assets but safeguarding your firm’s integrity and the trust of its clients.
Types of lawyer website hacking
Malware
Malicious software that can be loaded to run in the background of your site to steal client data, grant hackers unauthorized access to your site, clog a site with spam, and do other nasty things.
Ransomware
A form of malware that freezes a website’s functionality or holds sensitive data hostage for payment.
Exploiting vulnerabilities
Hackers can exploit plugins or website security weaknesses to gain access and data.
Website defacement
This is when a hacker gains control and messes up the site’s functionality, displaying malicious content in place of the site’s content.
DDoS attack
A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack occurs when a cybercriminal floods a server with web traffic, making access difficult or impossible.
These kinds of attacks are often difficult to spot until a lot of damage has been done. If a website has malware on it and a search engine finds it, that site is blacklisted from search results. And that hurts.
Our cybersecurity suite solution: HTTPS, data encryption & other defenses against cyberattack
Our security suite for lawyer websites provides proactive protection for the site, the firm, and its clients using the website. Following are the major components of our package.
SSL certification & HTTPS
Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology keeps internet connections secure and safeguards data being sent between systems (websites, browsers, servers). This keeps hackers from reading or changing information being transferred. A website must have an SSL certificate to move to HTTPS (hypertext transfer protocol secure). HTTPS is a must for a lawyer website – any decent website these days. HTTPS is in the page’s address and denotes secure, encrypted transmission of data between a website and a web browser.
Real time analysis of website & internet security
Real time analysis secures each website from various threats such as SQL (structured query language) injection, spamming of comments, cross site scripting, email harvesting, and others. We utilize collective intelligence communities on the web that share information from new attacks to automatically instruct and update our security software. Our reputation-based security identifies every online visitor and blocks threats from reaching a law firm website.
Regular software updates and patch management
Vanguard vets all software and plugins running on our clients’ websites. Moreover, we ensure that all software, including web servers, website platforms such as WordPress, content management systems, plugins, and themes are up to date with the latest security patches to address known vulnerabilities and prevent exploitation by attackers.
Website cybersecurity disaster plan
Best laid plans, including ours for website security, are not infallible. While we can’t stop every attack or functioning problem a website may encounter, we can plan for what to do should that happen. Our cybersecurity suite includes a response plan and correction system in cases of security breach and other losses of website functionality.
Third-party website backup
All our law firm websites are automatically backed up daily by third-party providers, allowing quick fixes to service interruptions and smooth functioning due to errors, breaches, and other issues. This enables us to reset the website to any point in time, recovering all data and restoring proper website operations.
Secure online forms, payment functions & client portals
We institute secure forms on all websites so clients can make appointments and complete necessary registration forms conveniently online. Encryption of form information during transmission and storage secures all personal information. Practice administrators are informed of online form receipt and log into their dashboard to retrieve clients’ completed form information.
Clients can pay their bills through the website with the firm’s existing credit card processor or one we provide. Unlike other providers, Vanguard does not charge any transaction fees for this service, though credit card fees may apply.
We can also help clients choose and install off-the-shelf, secure portal software for their site that allows clients and the law firm alike to share documents, sign documents, and much more. If a firm already has a client portal, we can help it ensure that transmission of data remains secure.
Improved law firm SEO
Our implementation of security checks, encryption, speedy website load times, mobile responsiveness, and other cybersecurity suite services have a positive effect on our clients’ website search engine optimization (SEO). In addition to excellent SEO from our content on all pages, Google recognizes and rewards website security efforts with better site rankings in search.
Content delivery network
A content delivery network (CDN) enables fast transfer of assets like style sheets, video, images and HTML pages that are used to load internet content. A CDN is a group of servers that caches content geographically close to an end user. CDNs can also protect against cyberattacks.
Other website cybersecurity best practices
- Upgraded password system and password protected logins for secured areas, with limits on login attempts.
- Trusted and safe website hosting with security features like firewalls.
- Other measures taken on the website and its platform.
Four reasons to retain Vanguard’s cybersecurity
- 30 years of experience building and protecting doctors’ and other professional services providers’ websites.
- A growth guarantee of 15%-30% in year one.
- A turnkey, fully integrated program that goes far beyond website tech, including social media, online reputation management, content marketing, and public relations.
- A proven team of experts in website security, digital marketing, writing, design, public relations, and SEO.