Canadian Lawyer InHouse

31 CANADIANLAWYERMAG.COM/INHOUSE MAY 2016 tecting the data entrusted to you by users has become a central part of corporate man- agement risk. "Cyberattacks are incessant, they are persistent, and you can't bury your head in the sand." AN INSIDE JOB Kroman breaks down the sources of cyber- security threats into four main groups. The attacks are sophisticated and well funded. Not surprisingly, a chief source is crim- inal organizations, often looking to exhort money from businesses, while nation states through the arm of a government are also commonly responsible for cybersecurity breaches for political gain. Similarly, hack- tivists also have political as well as ideo- logical motives for stealing corporate data. But not all threats are driven by money, ideology, or politics, says Kroman. Insiders are also a major threat to customer informa- tion and intellectually property. Disgrun- tled employees, both current and former, might have an axe to grind. A recent study released by the Wash- ington, DC-based Association of Corpor- ate Counsel Foundation found that a third of in-house counsel have experienced a corporate data breach, with 47 per cent of respondents reporting that the breach oc- curred recently — either in 2014 or 2015. Data breaches were more common at large companies: 45 per cent of in-house counsel working at companies with 5,000 or more employees said they work at or have worked at a company that experienced a breach. The "State of Cybersecurity Report," which, according to the ACC, is the largest study of in-house counsel on the subject of cybersecurity, also found that breaches were more than twice as likely at the largest companies and most likely to be the result of internal factors — employee error or an inside job. GETTING A SEAT AT THE TABLE The study found that more than half of in-house counsel reported their companies were increasing spending on cybersecu- rity, based on input from more than 1,000 in-house counsel at 887 organizations in 30 countries, including 77 per cent who hold the positions of GC or chief legal offi cer. Among this constituency, 50 per cent want to increase their role and responsibility regarding cybersecurity, while 57 per cent expect that the law department's role in cy- ber matters will increase in the coming year. One of the challenges in-house counsel may face is that they don't have visibility at the executive level, says ACC vice president and chief legal strategist Amar Sarwal, and cybersecurity, much like a company's cus- tomer information and intellectual proper- ty, is diffused throughout the organization. "It's not all together clear who has the pri- mary responsibility," he says. Sarwal says companies in highly regu- lated sectors have moved lawyers into the C-suite, but many companies still have their in-house counsel deeply embedded in one department, usually fi nance. Smaller companies, meanwhile, have a harder time grappling with the legal issues around cy- bersecurity due to resource constraints, he adds, but still face the same threats as larger ones, including internal risks to intellectual property. "Every employee wants to use At DW 2 , we pride ourselves on delivering the very best in IP/IT thinking on technology, pharma, or copyright matters to your clients. Green really is the new gold. DWW.com Lawyers, Patent & Trademark Agents The gold standard in IP is now Green. Untitled-7 1 2016-04-05 2:40 PM

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