Law firm Lydian takes pioneering cybersecurity role
Law firm Lydian takes cybersecurity extremely seriously – both because of strict regulations and at the request of its customers. The company wants to take on a pioneering role that matches its tech-savvy ambitions. And it’s succeeded in this thanks to support and guidance from security specialist SecWise, and its use of the Microsoft ecosystem. Lydian is the first independent full-service law firm to gain ISO 27001 certification in Belgium – so clients and lawyers alike can sleep easier.
Securely to the cloud
For quite a while, Lydian’s IT had been running on local servers that required regular maintenance – which resulted in higher costs without really guaranteeing operational security. Koen Poncelet, COO for the law firm, felt this needed to and could change: “When our previous IT manager left, it raised the question of whether we should outsource this role or not. At the same time, we realized our infrastructure was no longer future proof. So we called on our IT partner, Uptime Group, for help and advice. And together, we decided to maximize our efforts on the cloud. We’ve now created a modern workplace that makes it easier to guarantee operational continuity. But we wouldn’t have implemented this change if it didn’t also improve our and our clients’ data security. Current legislation as well as our clients are placing more and more emphasis on cybersecurity – and its importance is only going to increase further in the future.”
The Microsoft ecosystem
“We opted for the Microsoft ecosystem, as advised by Uptime, to ensure we have a modern, secure workplace going forward,” continues Poncelet. “Simply securing your office network is no longer enough if you want to keep up with modern ways of working. Our employees need to be able to work from home or remotely, for example, so we need end-to-end protection. Fortunately, Microsoft has a whole series of solutions for this. We therefore asked SecWise – who know Microsoft’s security components like the back of their hand – to fine-tune our cloud infrastructure. Their knowledge of the whole platform meant they could easily live up to our expectations.”
Integrated by design
The various components of the Microsoft ecosystem are very well integrated with each other, which provided added motivation for our choice. Poncelet explains that this also has advantages in terms of security: “Everything is linked together by design, so there’s no trouble making sure all the components can communicate with each other, which all results in very smart protection. If an alarm goes off, you need to be able to check what actions you should take quickly and easily. And everything flows together really well with Microsoft, so you can detect and address problems in the blink of an eye.”
ISO 27001
The fact that Lydian takes security seriously is further evidenced by its decision to get ISO 27001 certification – to prove its high cybersecurity standards. “We wanted certification to galvanize our ambitions for safeguarding our clients’ data,” explains Poncelet. “We completed our journey to ISO 27001 together with SecWise. The Microsoft platform’s ingenious design and high-performance components were essential in this process – on top of the SecWise specialists’ expertise in ensuring the platform works correctly, of course. The certificate isn’t easy to get, but SecWise’s help with our new infrastructure made it all much smoother. We’re proud to say we’re now the first independent full-service law firm in Belgium that can boast this certification.”
The human touch
A tool can only do so much, so there comes a point when you need a human touch to resolve issues. And SecWise supports Lydian here, too. “In addition to managing the complete configuration, SecWise’s Watch services also help us address any issues on a daily basis. They monitor security alerts, perform analyses to keep our environment secure, and intervene manually if necessary. Our collaboration with SecWise was great during the implementation, and has continued in the same vein since. Their expert work has helped us profile ourselves as a tech-savvy firm, and we’re actively using this to strengthen our competitive position in the market,” concludes Poncelet.
Lessons learned
Take security seriously now, not later
Poncelet knows that strict regulations and demanding clients mean security isn’t just a nice added extra, but a real necessity: “Anyone who isn’t taking security seriously already really needs to start doing so straight away. We’ve even noticed increasing demand from our clients to safeguard their data. The first thing you need to think about in the event of any change to your IT is how to guarantee security.”
A successful project relies on your employees
The trickiest thing for Poncelet wasn’t the technical set-up, but the human aspect. Poncelet: “The shift to the cloud meant a new way of working for us. We didn’t fully realize what was required from our people to start with, especially at the height of the pandemic. So make sure you put enough time and energy into supervising your employees, because otherwise it can become a purely technical exercise with little positive impact on your business.”
Project
Getting end-to-end security up to speed within the Microsoft ecosystem
Return
ISO 27001 certification and a fully secured environment – so Lydian can reinforce its market position as a tech-savvy law firm.
Duration
Three months
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