Legal · Microsoft 365 security & backup

Hardening a law firm's Microsoft 365 against phishing and closing the backup gap

Partners were being targeted with convincing phishing and business-email-compromise attempts, and the firm assumed Microsoft 365's retention was a backup. Neither assumption was safe.

Phishing-resistant

MFA on high-risk accounts

Independent

Backups with tested restores

Controlled

Access and offboarding

Representative engagement — A mid-sized law firm handling sensitive client matters (anonymized). Details are anonymized and illustrative of how we work; outcomes are directional, not a claim about a specific named client.

The challenge

  • Attackers targeted partners with credential phishing and wire-fraud attempts against client trust accounts.
  • The firm believed native Microsoft 365 retention was a backup — it is not — leaving mailboxes and files exposed to deletion and ransomware.
  • Access was over-permissioned, and offboarding left accounts and sessions lingering.

Our approach

  • Rolled out phishing-resistant MFA and conditional access, starting with partners and finance, plus SPF, DKIM, and DMARC enforcement.
  • Added true, independent Microsoft 365 backup with tested restores for mail, files, and SharePoint.
  • Tightened least-privilege access and put joiner-mover-leaver on a controlled, audited process.

The outcome

  • Credential phishing and MFA-fatigue attacks no longer grant account takeover.
  • Deleted or ransomed mailboxes and files can be recovered from independent, tested backups.
  • Wire-fraud attempts hit process controls — out-of-band verification and dual approval — not just inboxes.

Built for regulated, audited environments

We deliver the controls and evidence that make your audits possible — hardening and operating practices aligned to the frameworks your assessors and customers recognize.

SOC 2
ISO 27001
HIPAA
PCI DSS
CIS Controls
NIST CSF
GDPR

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