“Hacker Claims to Have Stolen Files Belonging to Prominent Law Firm Jones Day” —

• “A hacker claims to have stolen files belonging to the global law firm Jones Day and posted many of them on the dark web. Jones Day has many prominent clients, including former President Donald Trump and major corporations.”
• “Jones Day, in a statement, disputed that its network has been breached. The statement said that a file-sharing company that it has used was recently compromised and had information taken. Jones Day said it continues to investigate the breach and will continue to be in discussion with affected clients and appropriate authorities.”
• “The posting by a person who self-identified as the hacker, which goes by the name Clop, includes a few individual documents that are easily reviewed by the public, including by The Wall Street Journal. One memo is to a judge and is marked ‘confidential mediation brief,’ another is a cover letter for enclosed ‘confidential documents.’ The Journal couldn’t immediately confirm their authenticity.”
• “‘We have over 100 gigabytes of data,’ the hacker wrote in response to an email from the Journal.”
• “Jones Day, in its statement, said it hasn’t been the subject of a ransomware attack. Rather, Jones Day said, it has been informed that a company the law firm used to transfer large files electronically, Accellion, ‘was recently compromised and information taken.’ Jones Day said that Accellion is used by many law firms, companies and organizations.”
• “Law firms’ computer files often contain confidential information, including the size and nature of settlements, negotiations about pending deals, and legal strategy that would normally be shielded from the public by attorney-client privilege.”
• “Law firms have long been considered an attractive target for hackers because firm files contain information on sensitive deals and legal matters that firms have a strong incentive to keep confidential. Information on yet-to-be-announced deals can also be used for insider trading. In 2016, federal investigators explored whether a hack of large law firms including Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP had been used by insider traders.”

“Jones Day 2nd Big Law Victim of Accellion Breach” —

• “Two weeks after Goodwin Procter came forward with news that a vendor it used had been compromised, information surfaced that Jones Day was also affected.”
• “After confirming earlier this month that Accellion was the vendor linked to Goodwin’s breach, Law.com reached out to all the law firm clients listed on Accellion’s website. None that responded said it has been affected.”