Imagine you're a cybercriminal looking to steal some lucrative corporate information—valuable trade secrets, perhaps, or maybe insider securities material. You could try hacking into a bank, but their security measures are increasingly strong. A phishing attempt may work, but again, many companies are growing more sophisticated. Instead, if you're smart, you'll go after the lawyers. Law firms, due to the nature of their business, are swamped with sensitive documents and many have notoriously poor data security, making them tempting, and potentially lucrative, targets.

It makes sense, then, that hackers are increasingly targeting law firms. One out of every 10 advanced cyberattack is aimed at a law firm, according to the Harvard Journal of Law & Technology, with the Ponemon Institute estimating that the average data breach costs $7.2 million, or $214 per client record.

The most notorious example of a law firm data breach disaster comes from Mossack Fonesca, the law firm at the center of the Panama Papers. Last April, the firm made headlines around the world after its internal files were released to the public. The extent of the breach was breathtaking—11.5 million documents covering more than 200,000 entities, many with sensitive and privileged information, that cast a harsh light on how both the firm and its clients allegedly exploited shell corporations and offshore tax shelters. This data breach was so devastating that the firm now operates a separate website solely dedicated to conducting damage control on the incident.