Patricia M. Wagner, Chief Privacy Officer and Member of the Firm in the Health Care and Life Sciences and Litigation practices, in the firm’s Washington, DC, office, authored an article in Law360, titled “Notes from a Law Firm Chief Privacy Officer: Insider Risks.” (Read the full version – subscription required.)

Following is an excerpt:

As more law firms become the targets of major cyberattacks, more firms may consider appointing a chief privacy officer. In this Expert Analysis series, CPOs at four firms discuss various aspects of this new role.

Managing the threat of insider risks is a data security concern for all organizations. As its name implies, an insider threat comes from within the organization. Insider threats can be activity by a “bad actor employee” that poses a threat to the security of information held by the organization. In addition, insider “threats” can come from innocent and inadvertent activity of people inside the organization. As law firms hold sensitive information not only related to the firm, but to the firm’s clients, the insider threat poses a particular concern. There are steps that privacy officers can initiate to help minimize or mitigate the impact of insider threats.

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