Law Firm Turns to TAG to Prevent Spam Attack

Rhode Island Law Firm Turns to Technology Advisors Group to Prevent Spam Attack

If you ask most small business owners if their company’s IT infrastructure is secure, they will say, ‘of course.’ They think they have adequate protection against spam, ransomware, and other cyber threats, but are they making the correct assumption? A Rhode Island law firm found out the hard way and turned to Technology Advisors Group to remediate the problem.

The problem came to the law firm leadership team’s attention when one of their employees started sending spam email messages to contacts on his Microsoft Office email list. The messages were suspicious, and the sender denied sending the emails. The law firm reached out to TAG for assistance and were surprised to learn that the emails were originating from Romania. The employee’s email account had been compromised and used to distribute the spam messages. The firm was relieved when they learned no other accounts were compromised.

Technology Advisors Group Locks Down the Email System

Technology Advisory Group (TAG), located in Warwick, RI,  provides IT and cybersecurity services for law firms and other small businesses in the Ocean State. One of their law firm clients contacted them when one of their employees started spamming hundreds of contacts.   After remediating the issue, TAG conducted a cybersecurity assessment and recommended ways to protect the email and other IT systems. The TAG experts learned the employee was using his home computer and using a weak password to protect their email account.

TAG advisors reviewed email security processes with the firm partners, and they implemented several measures to prevent this type of breach from happening again in the future. The first step was to install a two-factor authentication (2FA) or multi-factor authentication (MFA) tool to protect email accounts. MFA requires the user to verify their account by sending a text or phone call to their mobile phone. Users can also use authentication tools like Google Authenticate to create unique codes to verify passwords. This process ensures the person logging is who they say they are.

With TAG’s guidance, the law firm went a step further. They enacted stricter password policies to prevent someone from easily guessing their passwords. The old practice of using a spouse’s name or birthdate is not a secure password policy. Instead, users can create passwords that are hard to guess with multiple letters, numbers or symbols. Password management tools are another tool to keep track of multiple usernames and passwords. Understanding and implementing password management best practices will go a long way in keeping your law practice secure.

As the firm’s IT leader, the responsibility falls on you to ensure your computer system users create and use secure passwords. You can conduct training sessions and work one-to-one with new employees, or you can work with an IT services firm like TAG to conduct training and support for you. TAG helpdesk services can work with new users and help them set-up unique and secure passwords or install a practice-wide password security tool that they can manage. TAG analysts can also monitor your email and IT system for phishing emails and other cybersecurity threats on a 24×7 basis so you can focus on running your law practice.

Technology Advisory Group services all of Rhode Island. With headquarters in Warwick, they serve Providence, Cranston, Warwick and Bristol with a full range of IT and cybersecurity services. Visit techadvisory.com or Call (401) 228-6400.