38% of Attorneys Fail to Disclose Cybersecurity Issues to Board

Despite a movement to hold company directors responsible for security breaches at their organization, nearly 40% of in-house attorneys and general counsel fail to disclose security issues h to their board, according to a survey by ALM Intelligence and law firm Morrison & Foerster.

The survey of 200 in-house attorneys and general counsel also found that 14% of respondents will inform their board of security matters less often than once a year.

"Cybersecurity oversight has also moved to the boardroom, where directors are expected to be accountable for cyber matters, but, we discovered, are often not briefed on these issues regularly enough," says Miriam Wugmeister, a Morrison & Foerster partner, in a statement. "With high-profile data security incidents constantly in the news, including a wave of recent global ransomware attacks, regular board reporting is a key component of an organization’s readiness plan."

The survey also found 24% of respondents indicated their companies were hit with a ransomware attack in the past year. Meanwhile, 36% of survey respondents noted their organizations lacked a crisis management plan and only 3% of respondents believed their companies were "well prepared" to take on a crisis, according to the survey.

Read more about the survey here.