Understanding that it is not enough just to certify corporate security is essential to prevent malicious attacks on your legal area during the holiday season
With the summer holidays fast approaching, companies need to secure their processes and remain vigilant against phishing attacks by hackers, who are always on the lookout for vulnerabilities in times of relaxation. Security is one of the most sought-after assets for companies. Secure assets, processes and information flows are key for companies to thrive and avoid risks that can put them on the ropes.
Whatever sector your company is in, it is not free from phishing, a type of malicious attack that can reach your employees in their personal but also in their professional environment. For this reason, it is essential to report this and other types of attacks to the security team, in order to deal with them correctly. The CTO must constantly alert and train employees about this and other forms of attacks against companies so that they are forewarned and can identify them without any doubt when the time comes.
Every detail counts and, on many occasions, we leave processes that seem simple and, a priori, unnecessary to chance. But nothing could be further from the truth. People often think that they are safe and unreachable for hackers and malicious actors in their professional environment, but this is impossible to achieve without great attention to small details.
The second piece of advice I can give companies is to understand that corporate security is multi-layered. What does this mean? A large company must be secure on multiple levels and ensure, among others, the security of its information servers, the security of each of its employees, the security of its customers and the security of its suppliers.
One of the most obvious cases of this need occurs in the case of the legal team. If they have legal tech solution providers, such as a CLM (Contract Lifecycle Management), it is important to bear in mind that they offer total security at all the above-mentioned levels, as the data processed in this department are of an extremely sensitive nature. In this regard, suppliers should be required to have their processes certified as safe.
The third key is to choose a great information security consultant. This will help you to secure the processes in the legal area and in every department of the company, so you will need all the help and expertise you can muster to get a truly valid and wise partner.
Another fundamental step is to understand what information the legal area deals with. In terms of information security, it all boils down to confidentiality, availability and integrity. Information stored in the cloud is often an object of resistance.
It should not be overlooked that security is a team effort. In addition to the implementations made by your CTO, from laptop protection to network management to software architecture and backup policies, the operations and human resources managers are key to keeping us focused and providing us with a joint effort. However, implementation is only half of it, the other half is deciding what and how to implement.
The last piece of advice is to understand that security is not so much about taking action to prevent phishing, but about thinking through processes, making decisions and writing them down. Make sure legal understands the nature of the department and how its operations work, and why they must implement certain secure processes. Failure to do so will lead to a constant internal battle, as security will feel like a constraining force on day-to-day tasks and operations.
In conclusion, despite the need for certifications and multi-layered security that starts with the security offered by your CLM provider, the key to effective and coordinated corporate security against phishing lies in paying attention to the detail, to the essentials, to the day-to-day.