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Law Firms · CPA Firms · Financial Advisors
IT for firms where the data is the practice.
Confidentiality is a professional obligation here, not a preference. Deadlines do not move for technical failures. And the attack that actually lands is not ransomware — it is a wire instruction that arrives in a familiar thread the day before closing.
What's Different
Three constraints general IT
advice does not account for.
Confidentiality is a duty, not a policy
Attorneys and CPAs carry professional obligations that predate any IT framework and now extend to how client files and email are secured. That shifts priorities toward matter-based access control, defensible retention, and document management support — not just end-user helpdesk.
Deadlines are external and immovable
A court filing deadline or a tax deadline does not adjust because a firewall failed. Availability requirements here are stricter than headcount would suggest, which is why we design redundancy around the systems that carry filings and client access.
Your clients audit you now
Enterprise clients and malpractice carriers increasingly send security questionnaires. Answering them credibly requires evidence from a live environment, not aspirational language — and a wrong answer on a carrier form is how claims get denied later.
Seasonal load is real
Tax season, trial calendars, and closing cycles create predictable peaks. Capacity planning and change freezes during those windows matter more than they do for a business with flat demand.
The Threat That Lands
Business email compromise,
step by step.
Ransomware gets the headlines. For professional services firms, the loss that actually occurs is a wire that went to the wrong account. Here is how it unfolds, and where it can be stopped.
Week one
A credential is harvested
Usually through a convincing login page rather than malware. The attacker now has a valid session and does not need to break anything.
Weeks two to six
They read, and wait
A forwarding rule quietly copies mail to an external address. Nothing is disrupted, so nothing is noticed. The attacker learns your matter names, your closing calendar, and how your staff write.
The day before closing
Revised wire instructions
Sent inside a real thread, from a domain differing by one character, in the right voice, at the moment the request is entirely expected.
Where it stops
Four controls, any one of which breaks the chain
Multi-factor authentication on every mailbox without exception. Email authentication records configured so lookalike domains fail. Automated alerting the moment a forwarding rule is created. And a written verification procedure staff follow when payment instructions change — a callback to a number already on file, never the one in the email.
By Practice Type
What we handle, specifically.
Law firms
- ✓ Document and practice management platform support, with vendor escalation handled by us
- ✓ Matter-based access control and defensible retention schedules
- ✓ Redundancy on the connectivity that carries electronic filing
- ✓ Wire verification procedure for settlements and real estate closings
- ✓ Malpractice carrier questionnaires answered from live evidence
CPA firms & financial advisors
- ✓ FTC Safeguards Rule program, including the named qualified individual requirement
- ✓ Capacity and change-freeze planning through filing season
- ✓ Secure client file exchange that people will actually use instead of email
- ✓ Encrypted backup with quarterly restore testing, evidenced
- ✓ Custodian and enterprise client security reviews completed
Reference Engagement
A Newport Beach law firm.
We provide complete technology management for a law firm in Newport Beach — day-to-day support, the security program, and the infrastructure behind its document management system.
Works With
What firms usually run together.
Common Questions
What firms ask us.
Can you support the document management system we already use?
In most cases yes. We support the common legal and accounting document and practice management platforms, and we work with the vendor directly when an issue sits on their side rather than escalating it back to your staff.
Our staff resist security controls. How do you handle that?
By being selective about which friction is worth it. Multi-factor authentication is non-negotiable because it prevents the attack that actually costs firms money. Beyond that we tune policies to how people work — and we explain the reasoning rather than announcing rules, which in our experience is the difference between adoption and workarounds.
Does the FTC Safeguards Rule really apply to a CPA firm?
For most tax preparers and financial advisors, yes. The definition of a financial institution under the rule is broader than people expect, and it requires a written information security program, a designated qualified individual, and an annual written report to your governing body. Many firms we assess are covered and have not yet produced that report.
Can you work through tax season without disrupting us?
Yes, and we plan for it. Onboarding and major changes are scheduled outside peak windows, with a change freeze during the weeks that matter. Remediation of anything genuinely dangerous still proceeds — we will tell you plainly if something cannot wait.
We are a five-person practice. Are we too small?
No. The obligations do not scale down with headcount, and small firms are targeted precisely because attackers assume the controls are weaker. Pricing is per user, so a five-person practice pays for five people.
Most businesses don't fail because
they're attacked. They fail because they can't recover.
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