The number of attempted thefts has continued to rise this year, with between £40,000 and £2m stolen in each case. Scams include phishing to induce people to volunteer bank account details, malware to infect computer systems, redirecting sensitive emails and transferring standing orders. Some clients of law firms have received emails purporting to be from their firm, saying its bank details have changed and encouraging them to send money to the new account.

Mitigating risks

Steve Wilmott, head of intelligence and investigations at the SRA, said: ‘We don’t want to deter you from using new technology and you can’t gold-plate every aspect of your service, but you can mitigate the risks.’ Firms are advised to update software security regularly, use more complex passwords and always check more than once if it really is the bank or client on the phone. Clients should also be made aware of the risks of cybercrime when they instruct a legal adviser. Source: The Law Society Gazette