Steven Chabinsky, senior vice-president of legal affairs at cyber security specialists CrowdStrike, told the ABA: 'The bad guys have caught on to the fact that people are using mobile devices more often than ever before to conduct financial transactions and to store sensitive business information.' CrowdStrike analysed a new technique last year which showed that a phone could suffer a 'complete compromise' if the owner merely clicked on a link in a text message.

Greater risk

The threat is made worse, says Mr Chabinsky, by the trend for BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). Law firms may feel that they can save money by letting lawyers use their own devices but there is, potentially, a greater risk with these devices if they are not fitted with the law firms' usual security measures.