Although hackers are targeting hospitals, they may be starting to also target law firms.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, the FBI and the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office is investigating an attack in which hackers accessed the computer networks at U.S. law firms, including Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP and Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP.

Someone familiar with the investigation said the hackers accessed the networks for insider trading or other purposes. It is also likely that employee and client records were accessed in order to facilitate spearphishing and social engineering attacks.

Adam Levin, chairman and founder of IDT911, said: “The bad guys gained privileged access by way of stolen credentials, infected computers with malware, monitor activity, collect information and then use it for their financial gain."

Attackers have posted comments that they plan on additional attacks against law firms.

Darren Hayes, director of cybersecurity at Pace University's Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems, noted that law firms have been a target for hackers because they possess large quantities of intellectual property. “The recent slew of attacks on Wall Street law firms is a new phenomenon, but makes sense given their access to sensitive information.”

Although fortune 500 companies have fortified their defenses, Seclore Technology CEO Vishal Gupta said “hackers are finding loopholes - and in this case, it's through the top US law firms.”

Source: SCMagazine