Executive Risk: How Digital Executive Protection Mitigates Exposure
The fear of physical violence is the main reason Executive Protection (EP) teams and Physical Security specialists reach out to Hg. As referenced in my previous two blogs, most people use our Digital Vulnerability Program because of fear of physical harm to themselves or their family. The shooting of Brian Thompson, UnitedHealthcare CEO is still fresh in people’s minds. Many public high net worth individuals have concerns, and rightly so, that someone may invade their personal space, harm them, harm their families and impact their livelihood.
But its more than just physical threats. It's the need and desire to live normal lives.
Digital Executive Protection: More Than Physical Threats
I'll offer multiple scenarios where risk exists with this level of information about people and their lifestyles being publicly exposed. Below is just a start, with some of the risks I’ve witnessed over the last few years while working with high executives and high net worth individuals.
Someone tries to open accounts in an executive's name.
Someone uses the information available to crack passwords, gaining access to financial and social accounts.
Someone attempts an account takeover or gain access to financial information at the bank level.
An executive is approached and falls for a bad business deal. The person seemed so lovely, had similar interests, s/he knew so much about the executive (we see this with athletes all too often).
Someone gets into the executive's family and social circle to gain access to their wealth and influence. (Don't think this doesn't happen, we’ve seen it all too often.)
If you're still with me, and I hope you are, you should now fully understand that PII removal from third party brokers can never and should never be accepted as Digital Executive Protection. It’s only the first step. Real DEP is a multifaceted process that covers as much of the digital landscape as we can get our hands on.
What You Post Can and Will be Used
The truth is today's threats to high net-worth individuals isn't just physical. These 'threats' are often invisible until the damage is already done. We are seeing activists, lone wolves and adversaries exploiting context to create the scenarios above, which impact an executive's ability to live a 'normal' life. They use publicly available details shared across the internet about hobbies, travel habits, children’s names and charitable affiliations to build persuasive narratives or to impersonate executives. This isn’t about being paranoid. It’s about acknowledging that modern 'threats' includes everything you post, follow, or are connected to online, even things you forgot existed (remember that Pinterest account you set up for a remodel project you put on hold?).
Digital Executive Protection isn't just a one-time removal of PII. It’s an ongoing, adaptive strategy that involves anything shared online that connects an executive and their family to people, groups, places or organizations. It requires active monitoring, social engineering prevention, and real-time alerting. It also means educating the executive and their inner circle, like family members, assistants, even household staff, on operational security best practices. This is what sets true DEP providers apart: the ability to assess, mitigate, and anticipate the risks that exist well beyond a name on a list. Because in today’s world, it’s not about if you're a target - it’s about when you’ll be recognized as one.
