ACC Foundation’s 2020 State of Cybersecurity Report released

The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) Foundation is proud to announce the release of the 2020 State of Cybersecurity Report. Representing a comprehensive look at cybersecurity activities from an in-house perspective, the report surveyed 586 law departments across 36 countries and 20 industries. Among the key findings, the report reveals that in 71 percent of organisations, the chief legal officer (CLO) plays a key role in leading the organisation’s cybersecurity strategy.

As modern CLOs’ roles and responsibilities continue to expand, cybersecurity strategy and oversight is unquestionably one area where we see the largest growth,” said Tanya Khan, Vice President and Managing Director, Australia and Asia Pacific

“Between the ever-increasing frequency of attacks and substantial risk to the organisation’s operations and brand, this comes as no surprise. CLOs bring a unique combination of legal training, strategic thinking, and risk analysis to the table to best help prevent and, if need be, react to cybersecurity situations. Today’s report is the latest evidence that businesses increasingly recognise the CLO’s strengths in this area and are adjusting accordingly.

The full 88-page report covers a broad range of cybersecurity activities: legal department’s role, policies and practices, risk management, breach and incident experience, and working with the government and law enforcement. Some of the report’s highlights include:

Forty percent of companies’ report experiencing a data breach, while 21 percent of all organisations surveyed task their CLO to deal with breaches;

Wide implementation rates of cybersecurity strategies — from password and document retention to employee training — and greater participation of legal in these efforts; The presence of at least one in-house lawyer dedicated exclusively to cybersecurity in 18 percent of companies (up from 12 percent in 2018);

Thirty-six percent of departments upping their budget for cybersecurity;

Broad satisfaction (78 percent) with the safety of third-party vendors who handle company data, a 16-point gain on 2018’s figure;

Of companies required to comply with GDPR, over half (58 percent) were required to hire a data privacy officer (DPO). Thirty-one percent of companies that were not required to do so hired a DPO anyway.

Click here to view an information sheet with key findings. The full report is also available for purchase.

The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) Hong Kong is excited to announce the launch of the new ACC Hong Kong website. The new website, will be fully integrated with the global ACC online platform and will provide a much-improved user experience as well as seamless integration with ACC resources and services. ACC Hong Kong will be emailing members over the coming weeks with updates about the launch of the new site, as well as practical tips on using the new ACC Hong Kong website.

For Information on the Novel Coronovirus please see the following link: Dealing with the 2019-nCov Coronavirus Epidemic: Resources for in-house Counsel.