By Douglas Concepcion

Based on the historical trend established over the last few years, it is expected that the number and sophistication of cyber-attacks will continue to increase.  54% of the professionals in the cybersecurity space anticipate a successful attack against their organization within the next twelve months.  Even though security budgets have been increasing over the last several years, the return on the investment has been decreasing, i.e., what is known as the trickledown effect.  This means that nation states and sophisticated actors (all black hat hackers) have been developing very powerful tools over the past (approximately) ten years, and as with all technical development, the tools eventually make their way into the public space.  In these cases, very innovative malware is now being used by criminal actors to circumvent the cybersecurity (hardware and software) of organizations.  Due to this level of concern, most organizations, on average, are increasing their security budget by 21% in the coming year, with a focus on securing planned or existing cloud infrastructures, applications, training and education of staff and mobile devices. 

The biggest hurdles experienced by organizations is lack of knowledgeable or skilled employees in cybersecurity; with an overall shortage worldwide of about 800,000 at the present time, that number is expected to increase to 1.7 million unfilled cybersecurity positions globally by 2020.  This shortage is causing organizations to increase training of existing staff in cybersecurity, and to contract with companies that offer Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) and Managed Service Provider (MSP) services.  A primary reason for the outsourcing to one of these organizations is that these service providers already have a dedicated staff in place 24/7, with the required skill sets for managing cybersecurity.  This removes a large portion of the security personnel burden from the organization, while also sharing the responsibility of security operations.

By Elyssa A. Goldstein, CLM, PHR, SHRM-CP 

Any moron can answer a telephone.  This was my exact sentiment when I began my first day of work as a receptionist in a law firm on Monday, August 24, 2009.  A negative, short-sighted and just plain untrue sentiment, to say the least.  Having studied music in college, I did not imagine that I would wind up working in a law firm two years after graduation.  In fact, as my mother worked in a law firm, and I wanted to “be my own person”, I tried to avoid following in her (career) footsteps at all costs.

Now, nine years later, I am primarily responsible for running all administrative aspects of a law firm, including hiring, firing and managing staff, some of whom no doubt never imagined that they would be working in a law firm after college or high school. 

By Michelle Cohen

The beginning of flu season is HERE.  These words strike fear in the hearts of many law firm administrators.  Does the paralegal sniffling by the water cooler look a bit pale and unwell?  Is he sweating?  Did the receptionist touch that door handle after a surreptitious nose wipe?  Did half the staff call out sick this morning?  Why does this happen every year?  Don’t we always think to ourselves, Should I encourage everyone in the office to get a flu shot?  The answer is a resounding YES!  What follows is a synopsis of flu shot information adapted/shared from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website.

Getting an annual flu vaccine is the first and best way to protect yourself and your family from the flu.  It can reduce flu illnesses, doctors’ visits and missed work due to flu, as well as prevent flu-related hospitalizations.  Over 80,000 people died last year of the flu or complications from the flu, making last year the deadliest flu season in four decades.  There were also a record breaking 900,000 flu-related hospitalizations last year.