Cyber

Not only are major data breaches now often resulting in regulatory investigations and fines, but cyber security has even been promoted to a geo-political issue affecting international trade in technology products.

The focus on cyber security has led it to feature regularly in the list of top three issues that are considered at board level for our clients. The range of activities that clients are navigating to ensure they comply with legal requirements and mitigate risks is expanding.

From our experience, cyber security is not only about having compliant policies and notifying breaches to regulators when required by law. Clients need practical advice on what other companies do in terms of best practice and what issues regulators will or will not tolerate. 

Increasingly, businesses need a range of complementary services, including: 

• Advice on directors' duties and data governance
• Assistance in reviewing their insurance policies and considering what coverage they should have or what they should commit to in their customer and supplier contracts
• HR support in order to monitor threats affecting employees, investigating incidents and, where necessary, taking disciplinary action
• Help ensuring that best practices are implemented in information security in transactions, including appropriate diligence in mergers and acquisitions, financing arrangements and technology and commercial contracts
• Advice on sector-specific regulation that builds on general privacy laws, including regimes in areas such as financial services and telecommunications
• Assistance in managing disputes that arise as a result of cyber security incidents and loss of data
• Advice on cyber security certification regimes, including the EU's new Cybersecurity Act
• Help with specialist cyber security contracts, ranging from penetration testing through to broader outsourcing information security and security operations services
• Advice on mergers and acquisitions and financings of specialist cyber security businesses