VRICyber, a Ventura County cybersecurity startup, specializes in information security systems for law firms.It’s a crucial service as lawyers increasingly do business online, and a breach of confidential information could compromise not only the law firm but clients as well.
“Having a hired gun come in to independently look at these issues and get a fresh set of eyes on there, that doesn’t have a dog in this fight, is a good idea,” said John Troxel, co-owner of VRICyber.Independence matters because a major source of security threats is employee-based error or misbehavior.“A lot of the concerns are getting hacked by someone or some company in Russia. And those concerns are legitimate; we know people that that has happened to,” said Troxel. “But also it’s worth noting that sometimes there are problems on the inside of the firewall, where we have to figure out what employees are doing that’s incorrect.”VRICyber opened in Camarillo earlier this year, co-founded by Troxel and his business partner, Kenneth May. May, also the chief executive of SwiftChip Complete Computer Care, primarily operates the company’s proactive security solutions such as developing policies, implementing security software and conducting user training, while Troxel handles reactive responses to security breaches, including investigations.
After nearly 30 years of experience at his forensic and litigation support business, Verdict Resources, Troxel partnered with May to combine their expertise to build a new business to meet the growing need for better cybersecurity for law firms.
As more businesses, including law firms, conduct transactions online, the risk of breach or improper access has increased. In 2020, the number of records compromised by data breaches reached 37 billion, a 144 percent increase over the previous year, according to research by Risk Based Security.
“I do a lot of cyber forensics work for lawyers, and Ken has a lot of IT clients that are attorneys, so we both are asked about security frequently,” Troxel said of the decision to focus on law firms. “Plus the loss of money, time and reputation especially to a law firm can be significant if the firm is breached.”VRICyber offers security assessments fand the implementation of security technology. But tech is only part of the cyberthreat equation.“People don’t all behave the same way,” May said. “So we have to be able to think up solutions for the entire client and also against the adversary that we’re dealing with.”
Cybersecurity Firm Focuses on Lawyers
