ACC: The Cyberattack Ate My Legal Advice

THE CYBERATTACK ATE MY LEGAL ADVICE:

The Impact of Cybersecurity Controls on Legal Professional Privilege and the Duty of Confidentiality

Do you remember telling a teacher that you didn’t have your homework because the dog ate it?

Using a cyberattack as an excuse for the unauthorized disclosure of your legal advice may be about as effective and can also result in an ethics inquiry into violations of the duty of confidentiality. Worse, the report of the technical consultant you engaged to investigate and remediate the attack may not be subject to privilege if appropriate protections were not in place before the report was prepared. In the wake of seemingly weekly cyberattacks and data breaches, this non-traditional and interactive discussion will address ethical challenges of practicing law across electronic frontiers as cybercrime increases exponentially, including:

• How to satisfy the ethics requirements of technological knowledge, competence and the ability to explain technical challenges to the Board and C-Suite (i.e., your client).

• The relationship between cybersecurity controls and the requirements of reasonable care to keep legal advice confidential.

• Engagement of technical consultants following a cyberattack or data breach in a way that maximizes the availability of privilege regarding the consultant’s reports and communications.

• Protecting communications across national borders where privilege laws may differ significantly from those in the U.S.