The way firms handle data has always been paramount, now more than ever before. In the past year law firms have had to adapt to the COVID-19 situation by working from home, communicating with Clients via emails, telephone, or video calls, rather than face-to-face, and therefore more sensitive data is being transmitted digitally every day. The privacy of our Clients is integral to our Company and has remained paramount to us throughout the pandemic, regardless of how and where we operate. Our Team have worked relentlessly to ensure that confidentiality measures remain the same, if not improved.
To qualify as a Cyber Essentials accredited firm, for the third time running, Hodgkinsons were required to provide evidence of the measures they take and the safeguarding processes they have in place which ensure that Client data is protected. During the assessment process, Hodgkinsons, had to provide proof of their security systems for emails, software, website hosting and cloud shared services. A remote vulnerability scan is also carried out to assess the strength of Hodgkinsons’ security system. As part of the assessment, Hodgkinsons, were required to demonstrate policies and systems they have in place to ensure that security is consistently checked, maintained, and improved.
Through rigorous testing, Cyber Essentials identifies that there are five key security controls which businesses should have in place, these are as follows:
- Secure Configuration – this confirms that computers and network devices are properly configured to reduce the level of inherent vulnerabilities.
- Secure your internet connection - this confirms that only safe and essential network services can be accessed from the Internet.
- Access control – this confirms that user accounts are assigned to authorised individuals only.
- Patch management - this confirms that devices and software are not vulnerable to known security issues for which fixes are available.
- Malware protection – this restricts the execution of known malware and untrusted software.
With Hodgkinsons you can be rest assured you are in safe hands. We promise that your data will always be processed securely and stored on an up-to-date device which has software in place to protect against viruses and other malware. Achieving this accreditation demonstrates that as a Company we have implemented essential cyber security measures and that we are consistently working to secure our IT against cyber-attacks. Here at Hodgkinsons we always aim to be transparent with you, even regarding our cyber security level so that you have the reassurance we take your data very seriously.
Alongside this annual assessment, our employees regularly undertake cyber security training to help strengthen our front-line security defences and keep business and Client data safe.
If you have a legal query and you would like to speak to a member of our Team, please do not hesitate to call us on 01754 897150 or submit details of your enquiry via a contact form and we will contact you.