Cybersecurity Litigation Attorney in Naples

At Vernon Litigation Group, we help businesses and business owners recover from cybersecurity attacks through crisis management, preparing for litigation, and strengthening cybersecurity practices. “We’ve been hacked” is a daunting realization for any business owner who has spent years building a successful and reputable company.

A successful cyberattack is an “all-hands-on-deck” crisis and business owners must be prepared to respond immediately and decisively. If you suspect that customers’ personal information was accessed, compromised, stolen, or used in a fraudulent way, the cyberattack may have caused a “data breach.”

Speak with one of our Naples cybersecurity litigation attorneys today by filling out our online form or calling us directly at (239) 319-4434.

Why is Cybersecurity Important?

Cybersecurity stands as an indispensable shield guarding against threats online. With businesses, organizations, and individuals increasingly reliant on digital infrastructure, the ramifications of cybersecurity breaches can be severe, ranging from financial losses to tarnished reputations and legal liabilities.

What Are Common Types of Cyber Threats?

The common types of cyber threats that assail individuals and organizations alike. These threats, often evolving in sophistication and scope, require a proactive and multifaceted approach to mitigation and response.

• Malware: Malicious software, or malware, represents a pervasive threat capable of infiltrating systems to disrupt operations, steal data, or compromise security. From viruses and worms to ransomware and spyware, malware encompasses a diverse array of malicious programs designed to exploit vulnerabilities in software and networks.
• Phishing: Phishing attacks leverage deceptive tactics to manipulate users into divulging sensitive information such as login credentials, financial data, or personal details. Often disguised as legitimate communications from trusted entities, phishing emails, messages, or websites can deceive even the most vigilant individuals, making them a potent tool in the arsenal of cybercriminals.
• Denial of Service (DoS) Attacks: Denial of Service attacks aim to overwhelm a target system or network with an influx of traffic, rendering it inaccessible to legitimate users. By exploiting vulnerabilities in network infrastructure or flooding servers with malicious requests, DoS attacks can disrupt services, degrade performance, and cause financial harm to businesses reliant on digital operations.
• Insider Threats: While external threats garner significant attention, insider threats pose a formidable risk to cybersecurity, often leveraging privileged access or knowledge to undermine security measures. Whether driven by malicious intent, negligence, or coercion, insiders can inflict substantial harm by abusing their position to exfiltrate data, sabotage systems, or facilitate unauthorized access.
• Data Breaches: Data breaches entail the unauthorized access, disclosure, or theft of sensitive information, ranging from personal identifiers to financial records and intellectual property. With the proliferation of interconnected systems and the increasing value of data as a commodity, data breaches represent a pervasive threat with far-reaching consequences for affected individuals and organizations.

What a Cybersecurity Litigation Attorney Can Do for You

Once retained, your attorney can act as your surrogate and make necessary or prudent statements and requests to:

• Law enforcement
• The IRS
• Insurance carriers
• And guide you in communicating with impacted customers, and even deal with the press if necessary

All with an objective and trained view that will help businesses avoid unnecessary litigation and position the business for necessary litigation (and otherwise minimize the harm to your business).

Business owners who communicate personally with those impacted by the data breach or involved in the investigation may be inadvertently harming their businesses’ ability to recover.

What to Do After a Data Breach

The first step a business owner should take following a cyberattack is psychological – don’t panic. If you have an incident response plan in place, start going through your checklist. Unfortunately, many small and medium-sized businesses – including law firms, CPAs, and other professionals – do not have formal plans in place to respond to data breaches and cyberattacks.

We strongly recommend that you and your Information Technology (IT) team develop a proactive plan to respond to data breaches and cyberattacks before they occur. We are available to assist you and your IT team develop such a proactive plan.

When a data breach occurs, things can move very fast. As a result, your first instinct may be to call your IT or network professional to determine what happened. Yet, most top IT experts agree that the first step a business owner should take is to contact and retain an attorney with experience in data breach and cyberattack response.

By hiring a lawyer, you can communicate with your lawyer on a completely privileged basis. Your attorney protects your interests while dealing with all other relevant parties on your behalf. Equally, conversations that a lawyer has with an IT professional in anticipation of litigation can be afforded legal protection from disclosure if handled properly.

Vernon Litigation Group has experience guiding businesses through cyberattacks, including:

• Notification obligations to customers and the Department of Legal Affairs under Florida’s data breach notification law (Florida Information Privacy Act of 2014)
• Responding to data breaches caused by insider threats, such as corporate espionage, trade secret, and intellectual property theft
• Notifying insurance carriers and seeking coverage for cyberattacks and data breaches
• Coordinating network forensics and data breach investigations, including coordinating criminal investigations with the FBI, IRS, Department of Homeland Security, and local law enforcement
• Assisting businesses whose employees, software vendors, or IT contractors were responsible for the data breach
• Recovering from cyberattacks involving ransomware, business compromise schemes, advanced persistent threats, phishing and spoofing, software vulnerabilities and exploits
• And/of defending and pursuing violations of internal privacy policies or terms of service, wire transfer fraud and financial cybercrime, and civil litigation under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA)

Count on Our Experienced Attorneys to Fight for Your Interests

If you believe you or your clients have been the victim of a data breach or other cyberattack, we urge you to act quickly to hire us and, in turn, we can begin to act quickly to mitigate your damages, both legally and commercially.

In addition to representing clients impacted by cyberattacks, founding partner Chris Vernon is a member of the Collier Identity Theft Task Force in Collier County and speaks regularly on cyber law issues and Vernon Litigation Group Attorney has written extensively on cybersecurity issues as well as being a member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals.

Schedule your initial consultation by calling our office at (239) 319-4434 or completing our online contact form.