Cybersecurity 101 for Legal Teams

October marks the time of year when your company props up skeletal decorations in the office, makes a spooky version of your logo, and prepares for your annual Halloween party. It’s also Cybersecurity Awareness Month, which can drive terror into the hearts of the unprepared. But by tracking cybersecurity laws and making sure your systems and processes are compliant, your legal team becomes a critical line of defense against cyberattacks.

Why should cybersecurity matter to legal?

Most modern businesses have a remote/hybrid workforce, offer digital-first experiences, and lean heavily on dozens of tech tools to get things done. This level of interconnectivity with third-party software vendors alone increases your risk of data breaches and cyberattacks. In fact, the number of data breaches so far this year has already surpassed last year’s volume.

Plus, in the event of a breach or some other cyberattack, it’s your team who’ll have to pick up the proverbial pieces — reviewing affected contracts, fulfilling reporting obligations, and advising on how to take action.

As part of your job to protect the business, your team should take great care to ensure that your company’s data practices comply with data privacy and cybersecurity laws, your incident response plan is operational, and you have the right tools to support your efforts.

How to proactively approach cybersecurity awareness

You might be considering waiting until a data breach is at your door to start paying attention to cybersecurity. But data breaches are too common these days not to have a plan of defense. Here are some ways your legal team can improve cybersecurity awareness.

Track cybersecurity laws and regulations

Even though the technical aspects of cybersecurity aren’t within your wheelhouse, data privacy and cybersecurity laws are. Understanding the regulatory landscape sets you up to successfully manage your risk levels and proactively prepare for potential cyberthreats.

Just this summer, the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted a new cybersecurity rule that formalizes how public domestic companies and private foreign-based stock issuers disclose cyberattacks and in-house risk management practices. Since annual disclosures are due as soon as the end of the year, now’s the time to ensure you have everything you need to be compliant. 

By keeping track of regulations and legislation, your company can implement plans and processes that enable you to respond quickly in the face of a crisis. 

Review internal data collection practices

GDPR and other jurisdiction-based privacy laws are important markers for data protection practices inside your business. These laws require companies that transact online to tell consumers what data they’re collecting, what it is being used for, and how they can seek recourse to get their data removed. 

To comply with this, your company needs to first know what data you’re collecting from customers. This is an excellent opportunity to collaborate with your product, IT, and security teams to understand how your business uses data and shape your data collection practices to comply with cybersecurity law.

Lean on technology

Let tech tools be your best friend as you navigate the choppy waters of data privacy compliance and cybersecurity law. A contract lifecycle management (CLM) tool is a powerful solution to help you manage your contracts, track obligations, and comply with reporting requirements. 

With LinkSquares CLM, for example, our contract repository allows you to store all your agreements in one place. Our reporting features allow your team to quickly generate the information they need to assess your risk profile and make necessary updates. Even better, it allows you to search for affected contracts without having to comb through your entire database.

Takeaways

As long as digital interconnectivity in the marketplace continues to increase, so will threats to cybersecurity. As the protector of the business, it’s your team’s responsibility to stay abreast of cybersecurity laws, and work with other teams to implement processes that limit your risk and enable speedy recovery from an incident. Don’t be afraid to lean on technology as you negotiate this landscape. LinkSquares CLM can help you come out on the other side not just intact, but victorious.