Another day, another law firm data breach. Just days after Greenberg Traurig was hit with proposed class actions over its own cybersecurity incident, Seyfarth Shaw has disclosed that a “targeted social engineering attack” exposed client documents containing personal information.
As reported by Reuters, someone impersonating a member of Seyfarth’s IT help desk “deceived” an employee into emailing “a limited number of client documents to an unauthorized outside account.” The compromised information included names and Social Security numbers.
The firm says the incident was isolated to a single employee and that its security controls prevented the attacker from gaining access to its network or systems. Seyfarth has reported the breach to officials in Texas and California.
Cyber incidents involving law firms are piling up at an alarming rate. Seyfarth now joins Greenberg Traurig, Quinn Emanuel, McDermott, Goodwin Procter, and HSF Kramer among the major firms to disclose breaches in recent weeks.
At this point, hackers don’t need to break into a law firm’s computer systems when they can simply convince an employee to send the confidential documents themselves. Unfortunately, sometimes the easiest system to hack is a human being’s trust.
Law firm Seyfarth says breach exposed client documents [Reuters]
Staci Zaretsky is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or connect with her on LinkedIn.
