Network Penetration Testing for Law Firms in Salt Lake City

 

Law firms in Salt Lake City and across Utah hold exactly what today’s attackers want most: confidential client files, M&A documents, e‑discovery data, and privileged communications. Cybercriminals know that one successful breach can give them leverage over dozens of clients at once, including financial institutions, healthcare providers, and public agencies.

Common attack methods against firms along the Wasatch Front include phishing emails targeting partners and paralegals, ransomware on file shares and document management systems, password attacks, malware, and SQL injection against client portals and case-management tools. All of these are designed to gain access to your network and exfiltrate or encrypt highly sensitive data.

The financial impact is significant. The median reported cost of a data breach in 2021 reached $4.24M per incident. That does not capture reputational damage, loss of clients, or the impact of ethics and regulatory investigations—issues that are particularly serious for legal practices.

To manage this risk, law firms need to regularly review, test, and improve their cybersecurity controls. Firewalls and antivirus tools are not enough; you need to know how an attacker would actually move through your network, from a phishing email in a downtown Salt Lake office to a document repository or litigation support database in your data center or cloud tenant.

Network penetration testing (net‑pen testing) is a controlled, ethical hacking engagement that simulates real-world attacks on your IT infrastructure. For law firms, this usually includes:

• Internal networks used by attorneys, partners, and staff
• External-facing systems such as client portals, extranets, and remote access solutions
• Cloud environments with case files, email, and collaboration data
• Authentication and access controls protecting privileged and confidential information

The goal is simple: identify vulnerabilities before an attacker does, demonstrate how they can be exploited, and provide clear guidance to strengthen your defenses while maintaining the availability your practice needs.

 

Network Penetration Testing Experience in Utah’s Legal Sector

 

OCD Tech provides network penetration testing services for law firms in Salt Lake City and throughout Utah, from local boutique practices to multi-office regional firms. Our team combines deep technical expertise with a clear understanding of how law practices actually operate—tight deadlines, demanding clients, and strict confidentiality obligations.

We have extensive experience in IT risk advisory, cybersecurity consulting, and security assessments for organizations that handle regulated and highly sensitive data. For legal clients, our work typically supports:

• Client and outside counsel guidelines (e.g., requirements from large financial or healthcare clients)
• Regulatory expectations including data protection, privacy, and records retention obligations
• Insurer and cyber policy requirements for breach coverage
• Board and partner-level oversight of cybersecurity risk

The result is a practical, evidence-based penetration test that not only highlights vulnerabilities and misconfigurations, but also delivers prioritized, realistic remediation steps tailored to law firm environments—on-premises, hybrid, or cloud-based.

 

Our Network Penetration Testing Methodology

 

OCD Tech uses a proven, repeatable testing methodology that mirrors the tactics, techniques, and procedures of real-world attackers, while maintaining strict rules of engagement to protect your operations and client matters.

Our approach typically includes:

• Passive Reconnaissance – Quiet information gathering about your firm’s public footprint, exposed services, and leaked credentials, without direct interaction when possible.
• Active Reconnaissance – Direct scanning and probing of your external and internal network to identify live systems, open ports, and potential entry points.
• Social Engineering (where authorized) – Testing human defenses with controlled phishing or pretexting scenarios that reflect how attackers target attorneys and staff.
• Exploitation – Safely leveraging identified weaknesses (e.g., missing patches, weak passwords, insecure configurations) to gain initial access, under strict controls.
• Post-Exploitation – Assessing what an attacker could do after access is gained, such as viewing or moving toward client matter data or email.
• Privilege Escalation – Attempting to obtain higher-level access (e.g., domain admin, practice-group shares, DMS administration) to understand worst-case impact.
• Lateral Movement – Moving through the environment as a determined attacker would, from one compromised system to others, while staying within defined scope.
• Maintain Access – Demonstrating how persistent access could be established, highlighting gaps in monitoring and endpoint controls.
• Cover Tracks – Showing how an attacker could attempt to remove forensic traces, helping you evaluate log retention, SIEM, and incident response readiness.
• Reporting – Delivering a clear, lawyer-friendly report that includes an executive summary for partners, detailed technical findings for IT, and prioritized remediation guidance.

This methodology supports different testing models—Red Team exercises, assumed-compromise scenarios, configuration reviews, and broader IT security assessments—depending on what your firm needs and how mature your security program is.

 

National Reach with Local Focus

 

While OCD Tech works extensively with law firms and professional services organizations in Salt Lake City and across Utah, we also provide network penetration testing services nationwide, including:

• Boston (MA)
• New York City (NY)
• Washington DC
• Philadelphia (PA)
• Dallas (TX)
• Los Angeles (CA)
• Chicago (IL)
• Baltimore (MD)

This national perspective allows us to bring best practices from large coastal and AmLaw environments directly to Utah-based firms, aligning your security posture with the expectations of sophisticated clients and co-counsel.

 

Contact Our Utah Network Penetration Testing Team

 

OCD Tech provides network penetration testing, IT security assessments, and cybersecurity consulting to law firms and legal organizations in Salt Lake City and throughout Utah. Whether you are responding to a client security questionnaire, renewing cyber insurance, or proactively strengthening your defenses, we can help you understand your real exposure and close critical gaps.

If you are interested in learning how we can assist your firm with a network penetration test, please complete the form below and a team member will follow up with you shortly.