Leading law firm invests in cyber AI from Darktrace to protect a dynamic workforce
5 min read.
About Lee & Thompson Established in 1983, Lee & Thompson is a well-respected law practice in London which specialises in the media, technology and creative industries and represents some of the worlds most talented and high-profile celebrity names within this sector.
As a leader within their field, they pride themselves on a first-class service, adaptive approach and unique industry expertise.
The security of client data has always been an absolute priority for Lee & Thompson. In his role as Head of IT, Rob Hilton is responsible for implementing and managing the firm’s technology infrastructure, with a focus on maintaining secure, resilient and scalable access for his end-users from any location, at any time.
The Challenge
“Cyber Security challenges are always developing and 2020 saw unprecedented changes in work practices with the COVID pandemic. Add to that the rapid growth of IoT devices, plus the risk of complex attacks like the one against SolarWinds – and the need for a more robust approach to security becomes quite obvious,” explains Mike Batters, Technology Director at Legal IT Consultancy, NETprotocol.
Due to the increased complexities of supporting a dynamic workforce, who today could be accessing the law firm’s company and client data from any location, on any type of device; Rob Hilton had been in search of a SOC solution for some time which is capable of monitoring activity 24/7, across their entire network and IT infrastructure, from anywhere in the world.
Ultimately Lee & Thompson needed to have complete confidence that any potential security threat could be detected and stopped in real-time; whilst immediately notifying their IT team of the risk.
“We must be able to guarantee our clients that we have full visibility of how data is being used and accessed – and from a compliance perspective, be able to provide a full trail of evidence to demonstrate we have complete control at all times,” Rob explains.
The Solution
“Having reviewed the market over a period of time, we were recommended Darktrace Cyber AI security platform by our long-term partners and specialist legal technology consultancy, NETprotocol,” Rob confirms.
Lee & Thompson had already seen and heard good things about Darktrace’s Cyber AI technology and so initiated a free 30-day trial to decide if the solution met their needs.
“The appliance took just a couple of days to arrive and set up was simple and straightforward. Using a unique ‘Immune System’ approach driven by AI technology, Darktrace immediately started scanning activity across our entire network, reviewing who was accessing what data and instantly flagging any potential concerns to me,” Rob continues.
It was clear within just a matter of days that Darktrace was already building up an accurate picture of what was ‘normal’ at Lee & Thompson – sending automated notifications to Rob through the Darktrace iOS app whenever it identified something as a possible concern.
“What I really liked about the technology is that it was not just looking for malicious behaviour or unknown credentials from outside of our business, but Darktrace’s AI technology can also identify when a potential insider threat is developing, notifying me of unusual or unauthorised activity also from employees within the business. There really are no blind spots with this technology!”
Prior to deploying Darktrace Cyber AI technology, Rob was depending on his already stretched team to not just keep a close eye on security parameters, but also investigate and resolve many of these manually once identified. With Darktrace, he is now able to monitor activity across his entire network through a single user interface, easily downloading reports for management to review, and most importantly, track how Darktrace has resolved the issue before the risk brings any harm.
The Outcome
“Lee & Thompson has always invested heavily in it’s cyber security infrastructure, however with advanced and real-time threats being so unpredictable in the present day, and with most of our staff now working remotely, Darktrace has highlighted to us how prominent the security risk is for law firms,” Rob affirms.
DarkTrace has eliminated any blind spots Lee & Thompson may have had, giving them complete visibility of their entire infrastructure, connected devices and cloud services.
Mike Batters goes on to highlight two major benefits of Lee & Thompsons deployment of Darktrace:
“Darktrace’s AI Analyst works around the clock 24/7 alerting & reacting to anomalies & potential threats as they are developing. Not only does it deliver a far superior level of security than was previously possible, it also enables Lee & Thompson’s IT team to focus their time on further developing IT to better support their business.”
Rob Hilton summarises the project and concludes:
I had always thought that Darktrace would have been out of reach financially for a boutique law firm the size of Lee & Thompson, however when we found the product was actually “in budget”, this was the icing on the cake! Thanks to their 30 day ‘proof of value’ trial, we knew what we were buying and could justify the cost without a problem.”