An article came out highlighting a new suit against a law firm. Suits against law firms are not particularly rare and don't make for compelling news. This suit, however, did.
A New York couple brought suit against their former law firm because it used an America Online account to transact firm business. If you are my age you probably remember that AOL and "You've got mail!" were the future—back in 1990.
Well, it turns out that this law firm and its AOL account were being used to help a couple purchase a $19.4 million cooperative apartment in Manhattan. Hackers had breached the firm's AOL account and were monitoring its email traffic. The hackers then used the account to pose as the attorney working on the deal to direct the clients/couple to deposit $1.9 million by wire transfer into a hacker-controlled account. The hackers were kind enough to send the buyers/clients a receipt for the funds.
Once the fraud was detected the couple was able to recover all but $196,200 (plenty enough to still ruin my day). While this is a brand new suit, it should be warning enough. So, what are the lessons learned here?
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