The cost of a security breach beyond the headlines: what law firms often overlook
Andrea Prin, product marketing specialist at Actionstep, shares practical steps to reduce the cybersecurity risks associated with human error — including clear, firm-wide authentication processes, ongoing staff training and using near misses to inform policies
Imagine this scenario: a midsize firm discovers a compromise through an employee’s credentials. As teams investigate and leadership prepares a statement to their customers, clients begin calling for reassurance or to initiate transfers. Internally, workflows stall, staff scramble and partners confront not just the financial exposure, but the fallout of broken trust that underpins the entire practice.
According to the Integris 2025 Law Firm Cybersecurity Survey, the stakes are rising fast: 66% of clients hesitate to work with firms using outdated technology and 40% would pay more for firms that demonstrate stronger security practices. In an industry built on confidentiality, these numbers reflect a baseline truth — cybersecurity isn’t an IT responsibility alone, it’s a client service responsibility and a competitive differentiator.
We’re examining the cost of law firm breaches, asking why human factors still drive most incidents and how modern identity management — including improvements to Actionstep’s SSO — helps reduce the most common risks. What’s shared isn’t to create fear, but instead to prepare you with the reality of what could happen if the right measures are not taken.
The true cost of a law firm breach
A security breach has a direct impact on lost time, lost clients and lost reputation: clients will not tolerate preventable security failures. Breaches jeopardize not only current matters but also year-long client relationships and, in a referral-driven market, trust lost is business lost. When a breach is publicized, it can overshadow a firm’s ratings, accolades and marketing efforts. Prospective clients and hires often treat cyber incidents as a warning sign or red flag.
Outside of security breaches impacting brand reputation, they can also pull staff away from essential work and processes that impact billable hours that could last weeks.
Firms also risk a dip in employee morale and culture. Fear, frustration and finger pointing are common outcomes after a breach. Even when unspoken, internal confidence in the law firm suffers.
Why do security breaches really happen?
Often, it’s human behaviour.
Despite the growing attention on advanced cyber threats, most law firm breaches still stem from human behaviour — supported by the fact that 72% of law firm leaders acknowledge human error as the biggest security risk in their firm and 47% identify staff training as a major challenge.
Some causes include:
- Weak or reused passwords
- Phishing attacks that trick even seasoned staffed
- Access rights left active after an employee departs
The Integris report also shows that clients increasingly expect firms to address these everyday vulnerabilities through stronger internal security culture and identity management.
Compliance is necessary, but real protection is built into your firm’s culture
Compliance is necessary, but insufficient on its own. Law firms are prime targets for cyberattacks, and it’s essential your firm’s staff takes all necessary precautions to protect client information, data and finance. Security requires a shift in employee habits and law firm expectations.
This includes:
- Ongoing training
- Role-based access and monitoring
- Clear accountability
- Standardised firm-wide authentication practices
This culture-first approach reduces reliance on individual vigilance, building structural safeguards instead.
How SSO reduces human-error risk
Single Sign-On (SSO) is an authentication method letting users log into multiple applications with just one set of login credentials like a single username and password instead of separate logins for each service. It’s one of the most effective ways to eliminate common breach of vectors in law firms.
Perks of SSO include:
- Reduces password fatigue, which reduces weak or repeated passwords
- Centralises access control, making onboarding and offboarding safer
- Enforces consistent multi-factor authentication standards
- Simplifies audits and security reporting
It’s not only convenient for the employees; it’s a foundational component of a modern, security-first identity strategy for law firms.
Actionable security steps for law firms
Regardless of the number of employees, practice areas or specialisations, firms should:
- Audit access across all systems and centralise authentication wherever possible
- Train employees regularly on phishing, password hygiene, and social-engineering risks
- Implement SSO and MFA for all core applications and enforce them firm-wide
- Review and update incident-response protocols, especially client notification workflows
- Use near-misses or minor incidents as learning opportunities informing updates to policies and culture
Actionstep’s SSO improvements are giving firms more control and stronger protection
As part of our commitment to strengthening firmwide security through our platform, Actionstep released significant enhancements to our SSO capabilities.
The improvements listed below bring firms increased administrative control and security enforcement.
- Firmwide on/off setting for built-in MFA. Administrators can now require MFA across the entire firm:
- Users will no longer be able to dismiss or postpone MFA setup.
- This eliminates one of the most common weak points in authentication workflows.
- Firmwide enforcement of SSO. Firms can now require that all users authenticate through their corporate identity provider:
- Direct username and password logins can be disabled entirely.
- This ensures consistent, centralised security policies across all staff and devices.
Together, these features give firms the ability to enforce modern authentication standards, reduce risk associated with human error, and offer a seamless login experience — all critical elements in a heightened cybersecurity climate.
The real costs require real action
The most damaging costs of a breach rarely appear in a headline. They show up in shaken client confidence, reduced referrals, operation disruption and internal strain — these outcomes are preventable, especially when firms address the human factor risks that are at the heart of most incidents.
With enhanced SSO controls and firmwide MFA enforcement available in Actionstep, firms are equipped to build a stronger security foundation while simplifying the daily experience for staff. Better identity management protects not only your data, but your reputation, your client relationships and your competitive edge.
