Cyber Security Challenges in the Legal Sector
Law firms hold confidential client information, identity documents, financial records and commercially sensitive material relating to legal matters and transactions.
They also depend on email, document management, practice management systems, client portals and cloud platforms to deliver work. A compromised account or vulnerable system could expose client information, redirect funds or prevent fee earners from accessing essential services.
Effective cyber security for legal services, therefore, requires more than written policies and automated scanning. Independent penetration testing examines how systems respond to realistic attack techniques and whether existing controls provide effective protection.
Confidential Client and Matter Data
Law firms process correspondence, contracts, evidence, identity records and information relating to disputes, transactions and private individuals. Weakness in authentication, permissions or data handling could allow an attacker or unauthorised user to access highly sensitive material. Our testing assesses whether those controls work as intended.
Email Compromise and Payment Fraud
Email accounts are central to client communication, conveyancing, invoice handling and payment instructions. If an attacker gains access to a mailbox, they may impersonate the firm, alter bank details or monitor correspondence until a valuable transaction is identified.
Cloud Platforms and Remote Access
Legal work increasingly depends on cloud document systems, hosted practice-management platforms, remote access and third-party applications. Weak identity controls, excessive permissions or insecure configurations can expose sensitive information across connected services. Testing helps identify these attack paths and assess whether access is appropriately restricted.
Benefits of Penetration Testing for Legal Services
Penetration testing gives law firms evidence of how their systems respond to realistic attacks.
Rather than relying solely on automated findings, our consultants investigate whether vulnerabilities can be exploited, how weaknesses could be combined and what impact an attacker could achieve.
Protect Confidential Client Information
Assess whether sensitive matters, identities, or financial or personal information could be accessed, altered, or extracted without authorisation.
Reduce Fraud and Account Compromise
Identify weaknesses in email, remote access, authentication and payment-related workflows that could support impersonation or financial fraud.
Maintain Access to Critical Legal Systems
Identify vulnerabilities that could lead to ransomware attacks, service outages, or loss of access to essential platforms.
Support Client and Regulatory Assurance
Provide independent evidence that relevant systems have been professionally assessed. The resulting report can support client security reviews, insurer enquiries, procurement exercises, internal governance and discussions with compliance stakeholders.
Legal Sector Penetration Testing Services
Web Application Penetration Testing
Assess client portals, conveyancing platforms, document-sharing systems and other public or authenticated applications.
Network Penetration Testing
Assess internal and external networks for vulnerabilities that could enable unauthorised access, privilege escalation or movement between systems.
API Penetration Testing
Assess APIs connecting client portals, practice management systems, mobile applications, and third-party services.
Mobile Application Penetration Testing
Assess iOS and Android applications used by clients, fee earners or support teams.
Cloud Penetration Testing
Assess AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud environments supporting legal applications and document storage.
Phishing and Social Engineering Testing
Assess how fee earners and support staff respond to controlled phishing and other authorised social-engineering scenarios.
Supporting Legal Security and Assurance
Law firms may need to demonstrate that appropriate technical controls are in place for clients, insurers, auditors, regulators and commercial partners.
Sencode provides independent testing and reporting to support cyber security for legal services, helping firms demonstrate that relevant systems have been assessed and material risks are being addressed.
SRA Obligations and Cybercrime Guidance
The SRA treats cybercrime as a significant risk to firms and clients. Its guidance highlights the potential for attacks to cause financial loss, expose confidential information and interrupt legal services.
Client Confidentiality
Law firms have professional obligations concerning the confidentiality of current and former clients’ information. Testing can assess whether weaknesses in authentication, permissions, applications, or infrastructure could expose that information to unauthorised users.
UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018
Law firms process significant volumes of personal data and must implement appropriate technical and organisational security measures. Penetration testing can identify weaknesses that could lead to unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration or loss of personal data.
ISO 27001
Penetration testing can provide supporting evidence for vulnerability management, risk treatment and the assessment of technical controls within an ISO 27001-aligned information security management system.
Our Legal Sector Penetration Testing Process
Contact a consulting team member by phone, email, or post. We will then discuss whether we can help you and arrange a scoping meeting to discuss your requirements.
In the scoping meeting, our team will discuss your requirements in further detail. Our team will ask questions regarding the following:
- Assets
- Asset Locations
- Test Perspective
- Objectives
- Scoping
- Date & Time
- Technologies
- Frameworks
Our expert consultants will discuss and finalise which digital assets you need testing in the scoping meeting. Based on the requirements, we will then assemble a project proposal and quote and agree on a schedule for conducting the security assessment.
Our proposal document will include the following information:
- Client Information
- Test Perspective
- Test Constraints
- Test Framework
- Scope Information
- Determined Scope
- Deliverables
- Quote & Authorisation (Signature)
The Penetration Testing starts. A member of our Penetration Testing team will liaise with a member of your company throughout the entire testing process. You will be the first to know if we have any questions or concerns. Our testing team will be on hand throughout the penetration test lifecycle to answer any questions or concerns.
Our tester will:
- Keep you updated
- Provide end of day summaries
- Liaise with the point of contact
- Test using a strict methodology
- Document evidence
- Maintain confidentiality
- Provide real-time alerts
- Deliver detailed reports
A Penetration Test is useless without a well-written report. Our reports are written in plain English, concise, and thoroughly documented. The Penetration Test Report is typically furnished within 5 days after the testing phase is complete. If you are interested in seeing an example report, please contact our team.
Each report details the following:
- Context & Objectives
- Mailing List
- Period and Confidentiality
- Perimeter & Scope
- Environment Overview
- Executive Summary
- Findings Summary & Table
- Technical Details
At Sencode, we offer free retesting for every Penetration Test we conduct. You fix the issues; then we will verify they can no longer be exploited by an attacker. Our team will arrange a mutually suitable time to conduct the retest, after the remediation efforts have taken place.
Our tester will follow these steps:
- Arrange Access
- Ask what issues have been resolved
- Retest the issues in the report
- Provide end of day summaries
- Update the document
- Deliver the document
- Offer a retest debriefing
- Debrief with your team
Deliver a Security Testing Certificate
Our clients receive a testing certificate that can be shared with partners and customers, showing that their company takes security seriously. The certificate and document are designed to be easily digested by third-party suppliers; the document removes the technical details and can be safely distributed.
The Security Testing Certificate is available on request after the retest has been completed. The security certificate shows:
- Date of the assessment
- Company name
- Client name
- Outstanding issues
- Resolved Issues
- Updated risk profile
- Environment Overview
- Executive Summary
What does choosing a CREST provider mean?
CREST accreditation is an independent, rigorous assessment of technical competence, process and data security. Choosing a CREST-accredited provider means your testing is delivered to a standard you can trust – and evidence you can stand behind.
Certified Penetration Testing Consultants
Our consultants are highly trained and individually certified.
Proven Pen Test Methodologies
Our pen testing follows recognised best practices: PTES, OWASP, and NIST.
Compliant reporting
Our reports provide executive context, technical evidence, risk-rated findings and practical remediation guidance.
ISO aligned
Our information security and quality policies align with ISO 27001 and ISO 9001.
Grey, Black and White Box Penetration Testing
At Sencode, we test from every perspective. Not sure which fits your needs? Speak to a member of our team; our experts are on hand to advise.
Client Testimonials
Don’t just trust our word for it; hear what our clients have to say about working with our team.
“The team at Sencode are flexible and easy to work with while also being extremely diligent and professional in what they do. As a result, we regard Sencode as a critical partner in ensuring our software is properly tested.”
Chief Technical Officer
Huler
“We held a briefing meeting with Callum to demo the system, answer relevant questions, and provide access for testing. Once the testing was completed, the report was efficient and comprehensive.”
Project Manager
Trinity College Dublin
“The team was super friendly, knowledgeable, and happy to chat with us. They did really great work, and I’m very happy that we got to work with them.”
IT Director
Diversity and Ability
“All conversations with Sencode have been very easy, and it’s clear that the team know their stuff. From the initial chat to the retesting process, we’ve been kept informed and supported throughout.”
Digital Lead
Verve Group
“Sencode have conducted our penetration testing for the last two years. Each time, they were professional, polite and kept us informed throughout the process. The reports were received in a timely manner and were concisely written. All this and at a competitive rate.”
Technical Engineer
Pip Studios
“Working with Sencode has been brilliant. You can tell they genuinely love what they do – it shows in how thoroughly they test everything and dig into the details. Even a non-tech person could understand what they found and what needed fixing.”
Cyber Security Specialist
Home Group
Frequently Asked Questions: Legal Sector Cyber Security
Testing is conducted under agreed confidentiality terms and rules of engagement. Our consultants access only the systems and information required to demonstrate the security issue. We avoid collecting unnecessary client data and do not deliberately extract sensitive information unless this has been explicitly authorised and is required to prove impact. Where evidence is needed, it is limited, protected, and handled in accordance with the agreed testing process.
Automated scanning is useful for finding known software vulnerabilities and common configuration issues. A penetration test goes further by determining whether weaknesses can be exploited, how different issues could be combined and what access an attacker could achieve. Manual testing is also better suited to access-control failures, application logic and permission weaknesses that scanners may not understand.
The SRA does not impose a universal rule requiring every law firm to conduct penetration testing at a fixed interval. However, firms are expected to protect client interests, confidential information and firm assets, and to manage cybercrime risks appropriately. The SRA publishes cyber-security guidance and may consider whether a firm took reasonable and proportionate steps following an incident. Penetration testing can provide independent evidence that technical risks have been assessed, but it does not, by itself, establish SRA compliance.
Testing is planned to minimise operational impact. Before work begins, we agree on the systems in scope, permitted techniques, exclusions, testing times and escalation procedures. Potentially disruptive activity is avoided unless explicitly approved.
Yes, where your firm owns the system or has appropriate authorisation from the provider.
We can assess relevant identity, authentication and external attack paths within the agreed scope.
Annual testing is a common assurance baseline, but there is no single schedule appropriate for every firm.
Contact us
Get a free, no obligation quote from one of our expert staff.