Lawyers handle the most sensitive information in the world: valuable intellectual property, in-depth disclosures, financial and medical data, personal, professional, and political secrets, and so much more. Keeping this data secure and private is one of the legal sector’s chief responsibilities—something that clients and regulators expect above all. Yet in today’s dangerous climate of cyber attacks aggressively targeting the legal sector, meeting that expectation has never been more difficult.
In one recent survey of lawyers, 86% cited cybersecurity and data protection as barriers to implementing new technologies. Users are worried that technologies housing sensitive data and client documents will be targeted by cyber criminals, and rightfully so—2024 saw a record number of data breaches at law firms. Despite these concerns, however, lawyers, law firms, and legal departments will continue adopting technology to give themselves transformative capabilities and remain competitive in a digital world.
Heading into 2025, cybersecurity will drastically affect the entire legal sector. We drew on our background in both worlds, law and cybersecurity, to create this list of trends that everyone should be tracking in the coming months.
Top 2025 Legal Cybersecurity Trends
Leveling Up Cybersecurity
Though most in the legal sector have basic cybersecurity policies and protections in place, many are still lacking in terms of cybersecurity maturity, resulting in more successful attacks and more significant losses. For instance, 80% of firms in one survey had at least one technology policy, compared to only 34% with an incident response plan on file. Those security gaps are starting to result in outsize risk exposure. As a result, the bar for “acceptable” cybersecurity will rise throughout 2025, compelling just about everyone to get more secure.
What that looks like will vary widely. Rather than following a one-size-fits-all approach to leveling up cybersecurity or throwing money at new tools, start with security assessments. Not only are these relatively quick and affordable, but they also provide invaluable insight into cybersecurity strengths and weaknesses, revealing which upgrades will make the biggest impact. Self-assessments are possible, but going outside the organization to get expertise and unbiased perspectives can yield better insights and more actionable guidance.
Managing Third-Party Risk
As legal teams undergo digital transformation and integrate technology into every workflow, they increase their exposure to third-party risk, opening the door to cyber attacks that sneak through the software supply chain. While tech adoption will remain brisk and bold, firms are becoming more selective about choosing secure solutions and more deliberate about considering third-party risks. In the earlier survey, security concerns ranked second only to budget as the biggest challenges around adopting technology. In 2025, the legal sector will continue grappling with how to establish trust as technology transforms norms and expectations.
Teams must apply greater due diligence before deciding who to send data or grant access, balanced against the need and want to embrace exciting tech innovations. Beyond vendor vetting, teams will need to actively monitor and manage their third-party risk holistically with the rest of their attack surface while maintaining dynamic detection and response capabilities against threats that can’t be prevented. As everyone in the legal sector becomes more interdependent, the risks are shared by all, for better and for worse.
Understanding the Benefits and Hazards of AI
Generative AI and other forms of artificial intelligence are seeing enthusiastic adoption across the legal industry, with 85% of respondents in one survey agreeing that AI has myriad applications in legal work. While lawyers are well aware of AI’s potential, they are less focused on the hazards; only 10% of firms and 21% of corporate legal teams have specific AI policies. The risks and rewards of AI will become more apparent throughout 2025, prompting the legal sector to take AI security more seriously, especially given the nature of the sensitive data they are entrusted with.
That will involve everything from implementing those missing AI policies to exercising greater caution when adopting new AI tools. Perhaps most importantly, users will need education on the deep and complicated risks of AI and training on how to use this nascent technology responsibly. At the same time, IT and security teams should look at ways to use automation to boost the speed and scale of cybersecurity.
Outsourcing More Cybersecurity Obligations
Unfortunately, cyber risks are rising much faster than the supply of qualified cybersecurity talent. As this disparity grows wider and the cost and time of hiring cybersecurity specialists keep increasing, more legal teams will forego in-house cybersecurity staff in favor of managed service providers. Likewise, they will expect legal technologies and the companies behind them to have robust security controls built-in that take the security burden off the end user.
Outsourcing can be more flexible, scalable, and cost-effective than hiring, not to mention a stronger and more dynamic approach to cybersecurity than doing everything in-house. However, the benefits of outsourcing are contingent on the quality of the provider. With over 40,000 MSPs in the US alone, many don’t have the requisite background in legal technology and cybersecurity to handle the threats and requirements unique to the sector. Outsourcing will be an asset to many in 2025, especially those that find close alignment between themselves and their cybersecurity partner.
Tracking Compliance Requirements
Lawyers operate at the intersection of many different regulatory frameworks while also being bound by strict ethics rules. Regulators at all levels as well as the Bar Association and other professional bodies are all starting to prioritize cybersecurity and either discussing, planning, or actively implementing tougher standards. Some of those will take effect in 2025, others will be announced, and all will need to be tracked to stay ahead of more extensive requirements with more expensive penalties.
Requirements will vary, making tracking a more significant undertaking for some firms than others. Furthermore, tracking is just the beginning. After that comes whatever work it takes to meet the new rules and get the current security posture compliant, followed by installing policies and protections to preserve compliance and make updates as necessary. To the extent that cybersecurity was voluntary in the past and subject to individual risk appetites, everyone will now have to meet minimum standards that are rising rapidly.
Taking Cloud Security Seriously
Cloud computing is a natural complement to the legal sector, giving teams a flexible and functional way to access information from anywhere, along with a cost-effective and accessible way to adopt the technology. It’s no wonder the percentage of lawyers using the cloud jumped from 60% to 70% in 2022 and has only kept increasing at the same pace. That said, lawyers are becoming acutely aware that the cloud, for all its virtues, comes with unique challenges and risks regarding cybersecurity that need to be addressed now, not later.
Boosting cloud security starts by reviewing the shared responsibility model, wherein the cloud user and cloud provider divide security responsibilities between them. Determine the internal responsibilities, rank them by risk and urgency, and consider compliance requirements. Then evaluate whether internal or third-party security resources can meet those responsibilities and requirements, both now and as cloud usage, cloud risks, and cloud compliance requirements become significantly larger than they are today.
NopalCyber – The Legal Cybersecurity Experts
In so many ways, cybersecurity will command the legal industry’s attention in the future. Be prepared for anything and everything with the help of a partner who understands what it takes to be successful at legal cybersecurity. NopalCyber’s roots were founded in the legal industry and have more to offer than services and support—we provide real-world solutions to technology risks in the legal field while unleashing productivity, revenue, innovation, and potential for firms that take cybersecurity seriously.
Get more secure this year. Contact NopalCyber.