Cybersecurity & Compliance · South African Law Firms

Privilege, protected.
Compliance, codified.

Lex Sentry is a managed security and compliance practice built exclusively for South African law firms. We safeguard attorney–client privilege and operationalise POPIA, FICA/FIC, the Cybercrimes Act, and LPC obligations — so your firm can practise without pause.

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SOC monitoring
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Cybercrimes Act reporting
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POPIA exposure addressed
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aligned controls
The exposure

Law firms are premium targets.

Your matter files, trust account credentials, payment instructions, and client privilege carry asymmetric value to attackers. Business email compromise on a single transaction can wipe out a deposit in minutes. POPIA and FICA enforcement is no longer hypothetical — the Information Regulator and the Financial Intelligence Centre are actively investigating and inspecting firms.

THREAT_01

BEC Fraud

Spoofed email instructions diverting deposits and bond payments away from the trust account — the single largest source of attorney-related theft losses in South Africa.

THREAT_02

Ransomware
on matter files

An encrypted matter management system halts billable work, exposes privileged communications, and triggers a notifiable security compromise under POPIA s22.

THREAT_03

Regulator
scrutiny

POPIA fines up to R10 million and imprisonment up to 10 years, plus FIC administrative penalties for accountable institutions — with personal liability for the Information Officer.

Managed services

A security practice,
not a product.

Lex Sentry operates as your outsourced security and compliance function. We deliver continuous protection across endpoints, email, identity, and data — with reporting templated for the LPC, the FIC, your Information Officer, and your professional indemnity insurer.

01

Managed Detection
& Response (24/7 SOC)

Continuous monitoring across endpoints, M365, and Google Workspace. Analyst-led triage, threat hunting, and incident containment with response SLAs aligned to the Cybercrimes Act 72-hour notification window.

02

Email & BEC
Fraud Defence

DMARC, DKIM, SPF hardening; impersonation detection; out-of-band verification protocols for trust account instructions. Designed to neutralise the BEC tactics that target attorney trust-account transfers.

03

POPIA Compliance
Operations

Information Officer support, data mapping, lawful-basis registers, operator agreements, PIAs, and breach-response playbooks. Built to evidence your "reasonable measures" obligation under POPIA s19.

04

FICA & FIC
Compliance Programme

For attorneys as accountable institutions: Risk Management & Compliance Programme (RMCP), FIC registration and goAML reporting, customer due diligence, beneficial-ownership records, and suspicious- and cash-threshold transaction reporting — with the dated audit trail the Financial Intelligence Centre expects on inspection.

05

Identity, Access
& Privilege

MFA enforcement, conditional access, privileged-account vaulting, and joiner-mover-leaver workflows for partners, associates, candidate attorneys, and counsel. Audit trail preserved for LPC inspections.

06

Backup, Continuity
& Cyber-Resilience

Immutable, encrypted backups of matter files and accounting records. Tested ransomware recovery runbooks. Continuity planning aligned to the LPC's record-retention rules and PI insurance covenants.

07

Awareness Training
& Phishing Simulation

Quarterly, role-relevant training for fee-earners and support staff. Simulated phishing campaigns with reporting that satisfies POPIA's "training as a reasonable measure" interpretation.

Regulatory alignment

Built for the South African regulatory stack.

Generic security frameworks aren't designed for your obligations. Lex Sentry's compliance programme is mapped directly to the laws, codes, and guidelines that govern your practice — and produces the evidence the regulator, the FIC, and your auditor will ask for.

POPIAProtection of Personal Information Act — the eight conditions, Information Officer support, s19 security safeguards, breach notification to the Information Regulator.Core
FICA / FICFinancial Intelligence Centre Act — Risk Management & Compliance Programme (RMCP), FIC registration and goAML reporting, customer due diligence, beneficial-ownership records, and suspicious- and cash-threshold transaction reporting.Core
CybercrimesAct 19 of 2020 — 72-hour incident reporting protocols, evidence preservation, and SAPS coordination playbooks.Core
LPC RulesTrust account integrity controls, accounting record retention, and supporting evidence for Fidelity Fund Certificate audits.Core
LSSAInformation Security for South African Law Firms — implementation of the LSSA's recommended ISMS framework for attorney practices.Aligned
ISO 27001International ISMS standard — controls library applied as a recognised "reasonable measure" benchmark under POPIA.Aligned
King IVICT governance, risk oversight, and reporting structures for partner and management committees.Aligned
Engagement model

From discovery to defended practice.

Our onboarding programme moves a firm from undocumented exposure to a fully monitored, regulator-ready posture — typically within ninety days. After go-live, we operate as your standing security and compliance team.

01

Practice
Review

Confidential assessment of your current security posture, data flows, trust account workflows, and regulatory exposure. Delivered as a privileged report.

02

Remediation
Roadmap

Prioritised plan with clear ownership, sequencing, and budget. Quick wins in weeks one to four; structural controls staged through ninety days.

03

Implementation
& Onboarding

Deployment of monitoring, identity, email defence, and backup systems. Information Officer support, policy library, and operator agreements activated.

04

Managed
Operations

Continuous SOC monitoring, monthly reporting to your management committee, quarterly compliance reviews, and on-call incident response.

An attorney's information is the lifeblood of the practice. Safeguarding it is no longer optional — it is professional duty.

Adapted from
LSSA Information Security Guidelines for South African Law Firms
Begin the engagement

Request a confidential practice review.

A ninety-minute discovery conversation with a Lex Sentry principal. No obligation, no sales pressure — a candid assessment of your firm's exposure and the practical next steps. All discussions are conducted under non-disclosure.