Given the ubiquity of digital platforms in use at organizations, cybersecurity is one of those topics that everyone knows about but struggles to apply in a way useful to their organizations. As Roy Zur, CEO of the cybersecurity provider Cybint, put it, there's a difference between knowledge and skills, as “everyone can Google something.”

And as IT increasingly integrates with the rest of an organization, employees from all ranks are being asked to play their part in addressing cyber risks, paramount among them are legal professionals. While events like WannaCry and the Yahoo breach dominate the news and boardroom conversations, much focus still remains on what Shearman & Sterling counsel Jeewon Serrato calls “the technical side.”

“I think what most lawyers may take away from the news coverage is that this is an IT job. When they start talking about MS Windows patches and anti-encryption software, a lot of the lawyers might think this has nothing to do with the legal departments,” Serrato said. “What follows after the immediate aftermath is [addressing] regulations and inquiries from different [government] entities and agencies and consumer lawsuits. That will be for the legal department.”