What Legal Departments Need to Know About Ransomware Attacks on Companies

Beth Waller, Woods Rogers Principal and Chair of our Cybersecurity & Data Privacy practice, and Patrick Austin, Of Counsel, authored an article published by Today’s General Counsel. The column provides legal departments with strategies to employ in the immediate aftermath of a ransomware attack.

“When it comes to ransomware attacks on companies, the stakes are high,” the authors explain. “Ransomware gangs are increasingly targeting valuable corporate intellectual property or the intellectual property of a company’s customers. While ransomware gangs continue to troll for personal identifying information, they also see high value in stealing critical customer information from business-to-businesses (B2Bs). In-house legal departments are on the front lines in ransomware events.”

Beth and Patrick cover the ticking clock that starts on a multitude of regulatory filing obligations, as well as contractual responsibilities companies may have to their customers and other stakeholders. They also point out cyber incident coverage and policy information to have at the ready.

“Applying these lessons and tips can help ensure that your legal department and the organization can effectively navigate through a ransomware attack while complying with the myriad of contractual, regulatory, and statutory obligations imposed by businesses following a ransomware attack,” the authors added.

Beth and Patrick’s article is available here on Today’s General Counsel website.