Mullen Coughlin, Cybersecurity & Data Privacy

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Has the number of data privacy cybersecurity incidents risen during this crisis? Has the response changed? Tune into this episode of Incidentally to hear from John Merchant with Optio Insurance Services, breach counselor John Mullen with Mullen Coughlin, and COO of CyberClan Kadir Levent as they discuss how things are changing and what your company needs to consider in this time as companies potentially become more vulnerable to attacks.

SHOW CONTRIBUTORS:
John Merchant
John Mullen
Kadir Levent
Erin Keating

As we all take measures to counter the far-reaching impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, rest assured that Mullen Coughlin stands ready and able to serve our clients. Mullen Coughlin’s primary concern throughout this public health crisis has been ensuring the well-being of our staff while providing uninterrupted service to our clients. Following preventative measures taken in early March (providing our staff with best-practice health tips, suspending non-essential travel, and expanding our office cleaning/hygiene practices and resources), Mullen Coughlin made the precautionary decision, before social-distancing was recommended or mandated by government authorities, that all of our employees must work from home. We have remained fully functional since then.

Fortunately, the nature of our business (legal counseling conducted remotely using cloud technology) lends itself seamlessly to our remaining productive in the current environment. We are well-equipped to provide all of our services whether our people are working in our offices or from their homes. We’ve worked this way many times in the past, in response to situations involving weather, travel, or office access restrictions. Those experiences prepared us well for the current challenges.

We want to assure our clients, vendors, and business partners that, during the time our team is required to work from home, there will be no interruption to our services. If you are a carrier, broker, or client with access to our data breach hotlines, they continue to function 24/7, and we are responding promptly to all incoming requests. All other methods of contacting us (direct phone lines, cell phones, email, text, and fax) remain fully available, and we have access to all of the resources needed to address your matters from start to conclusion. All services involving hard-copy records (U.S. mail and court filings, where required) also continue to be addressed effectively. We are asking clients to please contact us by phone or email if you are planning to send or have sent, time-sensitive correspondence in the mail or via FedEx or UPS, as delivery personnel do not have access to our main office building until further notice, and we’re making alternative arrangements to collect correspondence or packages directly from the relevant delivery service.

We are 100% committed to delivering our highest level of service to all of our clients, and we continue to monitor pandemic response developments and mandates closely, with that commitment in mind.

We hope you, our valued clients and partners, and your families, remain safe and healthy!

Mullen Coughlin, a cyber-focused law firm, announced it will expand its team and geographic reach with the addition of Greg Bautista and several other members from the Wilson Elser data privacy team.

The move expands Mullen Coughlin’s practice to over 50 attorneys practicing in California, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Texas. In addition to Bautista, former co-chair of Wilson Elser’s data privacy team, two partners and several associates will join Mullen Coughlin.

John Mullen, founder of the firm, told Advisen that they were seeking senior cyber attorneys to join the practice and the new additions make sense from talent and geographical perspectives.

“Some insureds prefer to have a lawyer located close to them, even if they never meet them,” said Mullen. “Although we’ve always serviced the entire country, this new team will add to the comfort level of those insureds.”

Mullen Coughlin focuses solely on data privacy, providing pre-event services, incident response, compliance, litigation, and regulatory defense. The firm’s lawyers handled over 3,000 events in 2019.

The firm’s expansion comes at a time of increasing cyber threats, particularly ransomware. Ransom amounts have skyrocketed, and attacks have become more complex and more frequent.

“It’s a three-part monster on ransomware,” Mullen said. Entities of all sizes also continue to face traditional hacks, business email compromises, vendor risk, and other perennial cyber threats.

“There’s a reason more and more entities are buying cyber insurance,” he said. Mullen predicted “double and then triple” growth for the cyber insurance industry in the coming years. Market consensus suggests that take-up rates will increase beyond the Fortune 5000, the majority of whom have bought cyber coverage for several years.

The vast majority of Mullen Coughlin’s business comes in via its insurer partners. The insurers have “figured it out,” according to Mullen.

“The insurance industry and the vendors they use lead the market in its ability to respond to these events. All the big insurers have dealt with thousands of these breaches,” he said. “They know what the process should look like. They figured out how to best and most efficiently deal with breaches.”

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