The Dangers and Perils of Tech Dependencies in Legal Firms

The recent #CrowdStrike outage is a stark reminder of the risks associated with heavy reliance on technology and the need for law firms to scrutinise their tech dependencies. While technology enhances efficiency, it also introduces vulnerabilities. The outage disrupted operations across various sectors, including legal services, highlighting the necessity for legal firms to not take vendor assurances as gospel.

Are we surprised? The global impact of the CrowdStrike outage is indeed surprising and highlights the interconnectedness and dependence of modern systems on key technology vendors. Such widespread disruptions underscore the vulnerabilities in relying on single points of failure within IT infrastructure. Precedents for global tech outages exist, such as the AWS outages that have similarly caused widespread disruptions across various sectors.

Key Insights:

1. Regional Variances: The CrowdStrike outage revealed that disruptions varied by region, with more significant impacts on the West Coast than the East Coast. This suggests that firms need to consider geographic factors when assessing their tech dependencies and disaster recovery plans. The regional variances observed could be due to differences in regional infrastructure, data center locations, and network configurations, making some areas more resilient to certain types of failures than others.
2. Vigilant Monitoring and Accountability: Firms must regularly audit their IT infrastructure and hold vendors accountable through stringent SLAs. This ensures that any potential issues are identified and addressed promptly, reducing the risk of extended downtime.
3. Diversification and Redundancy: Relying on a single vendor for critical services is risky. Firms should diversify their tech stack and implement redundant systems to maintain continuity during outages. For instance, having backup cybersecurity tools can mitigate the impact of a primary system failure.
4. Contingency Planning and Proactive Measures: Developing and regularly updating contingency plans is essential. This includes training staff on emergency protocols and conducting drills to ensure readiness. Additionally, firms should invest in proactive security measures, such as regular penetration testing and threat simulations, to identify and rectify vulnerabilities.
5. Cybersecurity Vigilance: Despite no signs of a cyberattack during the CrowdStrike outage, the incident underscores the importance of continuous cybersecurity vigilance. Firms should conduct thorough security audits and ensure all systems are fortified against potential threats.

The CrowdStrike outage serves as a wake-up call for law firms to reevaluate their tech dependencies and adopt a more cautious and proactive approach. By diversifying their technology providers, enforcing strict vendor accountability, and maintaining robust contingency plans, firms can safeguard their operations against future disruptions. As gatekeepers of sensitive client information, law firms must prioritise security and operational resilience to uphold their fiduciary duties and maintain client trust.

Whilst CrowdStrike’s Falcon system was throwing law firms and many others into chaos, it was a day of blissful ignorance for the Mac users, tapping away as if the sky hadn’t just fallen. It’s almost poetic that Apple’s walled garden—a fortress many love to hate—turned out to be the serene sanctuary in this storm.

Meanwhile, Microsoft is attributing the extensive impact of the CrowdStrike outage to a regulatory decision made by the European Commission in the early 2000s. Following antitrust concerns, Microsoft agreed to give third-party security software developers the same level of access to the Windows operating system that Microsoft itself had. This decision meant that CrowdStrike’s Falcon system, with deep access to the Windows kernel, could cause widespread issues when a faulty update was released. In contrast, Apple's more restricted, closed ecosystem prevented such a scenario on their devices. We guess MS have a right to be a tad upset.

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References:

Amanda O'Brien & Samson Amore, "CrowdStrike Outage Yields Mixed Impacts on Big Law," The American Lawyer, July 19, 2024.