Case Study by Michael Barrett - Head of IT, Hicksons Lawyers
Background
Hicksons is a mid-tier legal firm with offices located across New South Wales and security is one of our organisation’s pillars of management – the security of our staff, partners and clients is of paramount concern.
As we know, malicious attacks against organisations, big and small, are constantly evolving. That means for as long as cybercriminals are out there making moves to attack, we’ll be there making moves to protect.
The Goal
Our goal is to achieve and maintain the highest level of IT security possible in our endeavour to protect our staff, partners and clients from the risk of breach or attack.
However, with a relatively small internal IT team, we are unable to run a dedicated security operations function. To support our efforts, we partner with The Missing Link, along with other security organisations. They ensure we implement the latest IT products, updates, best practices and initiatives so that our security posture is as robust as it can be.
The Selection Process
Hicksons has partnered with The Missing Link for the past three years. When I joined the firm as Head of IT in mid-2021, it was a painless exercise to get up to speed with their portfolio of services.
Over the previous years, we have engaged The Missing Link on numerous projects, including Vulnerability Assessments across all our externally facing websites, which is a core requirement for many of our clients. We recently committed to achieving ISO 27001 certification and engaged The Missing Link to help us with this sizeable initiative. As well as acknowledging the level of security we’ve implemented, this globally recognised certification will enable us to tender for contracts where IT & Cyber Security is absolutely parament to the client.
ISO 27001 certification is something that we could do in-house ourselves; however, having a trusted partner to work along with the team and our stakeholders gives me the confidence that our preparation will be thorough and we’ll achieve accreditation the first time around.
The Relationship
Our relationship with The Missing Link is professional yet informal. I meet for (virtual) coffee with our account manager frequently, where we discuss anything and everything.
Day-to-day, they’re always available to listen to any concerns or challenges. They’re also more than happy to provide advice or connect me with engineers, architects, and security operations consultants to have a more informed discussion. There’s never a sales pitch or any pressure to buy services, and if they don’t feel they’re the best fit for any particular need we have, they don’t hesitate to recommend a more appropriate vendor.
The Difference
The Missing Link has very knowledgeable experts on their team. They have experience across all industries, and most importantly for us, experience partnering with legal firms.
