Security

Security Measures and Information We wish to start by confirming that we have NOT been hacked and there has NOT been a security breach at M2M Community Solicitors LLP. We take security of all information we obtain from clients and staff very seriously and have many different security measures in place to ensure that our systems are not breached by hackers. We have become aware that someone has created a separate email account, which appears to be one of our solicitor’s email addresses, miriam@m2mcommunitysolicitors.co.uk and they actually sent the email to her. No other similar emails have been received by any other solicitors or staff member at M2M Community Solicitors LLP to date. If you are a potential client wanting to obtain advice and assistance from us, please do not email Miriam directly at the email address above but instead use the contact page on our website, which is the appropriate method of contact. Miriam does not deal with the contact page or with new client enquiries. In respect of Miriam’s email, we have carried out all checks possible to us in respect of the email address and can confirm that the email received was not actually sent from her real email account. There have been many reports by solicitors firms within the past few years of similar occurrences although some of the firms have reported that they have been hacked. The Solicitors Regulation Authority and other legal course providers have provided over the years many courses and conferences on cybercrime, for which we have attended and so are able to identify such issues, put security measures in place beforehand and know how to deal with such matters when problems occur. In a number of cases, clients have been contacted by the hackers posing to be the solicitors and informing clients that the solicitors’ bank details have changed for payments to be made. As already stated, we have NOT been hacked, your details have NOT been compromised and you should NOT receive any emails from others posing to be a solicitor of M2M Community Solicitors LLP. Further, we have already identified to a number of clients over the past year or so that such incidents are happening and that our bank details are not expected to change. We have put in place additional precautionary measures, which we have notified to all of our current clients. If you currently have a matter with us you will be receiving letters and emails from us within the next couple of days informing you of the additional precautionary measures we have put in place with immediate effect. We can confirm that we will be reporting this suspicious activity to the relevant authorities for any investigation they wish to instigate. Please rest assured that no details have been compromised and that we have NOT had a security breach at all, we are simply taking all steps to inform clients and future clients that a person(s) has created an identical email address. If you do have any concerns at all, please do not hesitate to contact Marie Quinn as the person responsible for data protection and security issues.