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Sensei Article Featured In PA Bar’s Voices & Views Newsletter

October 14, 2021

“Small and Midsized Law Firms Slammed by Ransomware” by Sensei’s Sharon Nelson and John Simek was featured in the Summer 2021 edition of the Pennsylvania Bar Association Voices & Views Newsletter by Women in the Profession Commission. The Commission on Women in the Profession assess the current status of women in the legal profession and identify barriers that prevent them from full participation in the work, responsibilities and rewards of the profession.

A Warning for Law Firms

The first of the quarterly 2021 surveys appeared during April – and the news isn’t good for small and midsized law firms. Note these ominous words from Coveware, a highly regarded aggregator of global ransomware and cyber extortion data, which published the Coveware Quarterly Ransomware Report (Q1 2021):

“The most notable change in industries impacted by ransomware attacks in Q1 was the Professional Services industry, specifically law firms. Small and medium sized law firms continue to succumb to encryption ransomware and data exfiltration extortion attacks. Unfortunately, the economics of many small professional service firms do not encourage or enable adequate cyber security.”

Sobering Statistics from the First Quarter of 2021

• The average ransom payment was $220,298 (+43% from Q4 2020)

• The median ransom payment was $78,398 (+59% from Q4 2020)

• The average number of downtime days was 23 (+10 from Q4 2020)

• 77% of ransomware attacks include a threat to leak the stolen data (up from 70% in Q4 2020).

Read the entire article here. (pages 8-9)