Legal Business

‘Collateral damage’: Profession gets a stark wake-up call on tech security in wake of crippling DLA cyber assault

Kathryn McCann assesses the impact of the cyber attack on DLA and the wider legal market

For years, the possibility of a major cyber attack on a leading law firm has been discussed. Inevitably, it finally materialised. On 27 June DLA Piper was crippled for days after the global giant’s systems were hit by what the firm terms a ‘particularly sophisticated strain of malware’. (In cyber jargon, malware is malicious software designed to disrupt, damage or gain access to computer systems.)