Seyfarth Synopsis:
The
attorney-client privilege is a bedrock legal principle that
protects a client from providing a court or adversary with
confidential communications exchanged in the course of providing or
receiving legal advice with an attorney. Cybersecurity data breach,
often accompanied by ransom/extortion demands and threats of
publication of sensitive information, diminish the attorney-client
privilege protection and raise ethical issues as to an
attorney s duty in protecting the privilege from being
waived.
A growing number of ransomware attacks have begun including data
exfiltration capabilities. This is in response to victims refusing
to pay ransomware ransoms and instead recovering from backup or
Seyfarth Synopsis:
The attorney-client privilege is a bedrock legal principle that protects a client from providing a court or adversary with confidential communications exchanged in the course of providing or receiving legal advice with an attorney. Cybersecurity data breach, often accompanied by ransom/extortion demands and threats of publication of sensitive information, diminish the attorney-client privilege protection and raise ethical issues as to an attorney’s duty in protecting the privilege from being waived.
A growing number of ransomware attacks have begun including data exfiltration capabilities. This is in response to victims refusing to pay ransomware ransoms and instead recovering from backup or other means. In response, threat actors have decided that taking data provides them some insurance against this activity, thus increasing their chance of obtaining payment after a successful attack.