Digital Risk Protection

What is digital executive protection?

Imagine waking up to find your social media accounts hacked, sensitive emails leaked, or worse, your identity stolen.

These scenarios can have a devastating impact on your organization.

Digital executive protection shields executives, VIPs, and other high-profile individuals from cyber threats.

It includes monitoring for leaked data, securing their online accounts, and protecting sensitive information from being accessed.

The goal is to protect executives from targeted threats like whaling (phishing), business email compromise (BEC), and account takeovers.

Who needs executive protection?

Not everyone is at high risk of targeted attacks, but there are certain groups of people who definitely need it. These include:

Company executives and CEOs: Especially those with high visibility or in controversial industries.
Politicians and government officials: High-ranking civil servants face a mix of digital and physical threats.
Celebrities and public figures: From influencers to actors, anyone in the spotlight can be a target.
Wealthy individuals: High net worth often equals high risk.
Journalists and investigative reporters: This is especially relevant for those covering sensitive or controversial topics.

If you fall into one of these categories, you’re more likely to be targeted by cybercriminals, hacktivists, or even disgruntled employees or fans.

Why is executive protection important?

Personal information is often just a Google search away. Social media, blogs, and other online platforms may unintentionally reveal sensitive details. Malicious actors exploit these for doxing, identity theft, or impersonation attacks.

For business executives, the stakes are even higher. Attackers target high net worth individuals and corporate leaders for extortion. Politicians face threats ranging from hacktivism to coordinated harassment campaigns.

By implementing digital executive protection, companies can shield their leadership from these risks. This doesn’t just protect their online identity. It can also prevent real-world consequences, including physical threats.

How does executive protection work?

Digital executive protection combines strategy and technology to keep high-profile individuals safe online. Here’s a breakdown of how it works:

Monitoring: Continuously track online activity, social media, and public records. Flag potential threats or personal information exposed.
Threat Intelligence: Use automated tools to gather threats targeting your executive team.
Vulnerability Assessment: Regularly review the executive’s digital footprint. This allows you to find issues in both their personal and professional accounts quickly.
Secure Communication: Make sure all communication, whether personal or professional, is end-to-end encrypted. This prevents unauthorized access or eavesdropping.
Incident Response: Have a plan in place before an incident. This enables you to address security incidents like data breaches quickly.
Training and Awareness: Educate executives and their close circles on cybersecurity best practices. This includes recognizing phishing emails, using password managers, and enabling multi-factor authentication.
Privacy Management: Proactively manage and reduce the amount of personal information available online. This minimizes the risk of doxing or identity theft.
Access Control: Enforce strict access controls on accounts. This ensures that only trusted individuals have access to sensitive information.
Backup and Recovery: Regularly back up critical data. Have a recovery plan to restore information in case of an incident.

Common Digital Threats to Executives

Digital executive protection covers many threats. Here are the most common:

Whaling (Phishing for Executives): Cybercriminals use highly targeted phishing attacks, known as whaling, to trick executives into divulging sensitive information.
Business Email Compromise (BEC): Attackers impersonate an executive through email to manipulate employees into transferring funds or sharing confidential data.
Impersonation: Cybercriminals create fake social media accounts or websites to impersonate an executive. The goal is often to hurt their reputation or scam others.
Account Takeovers: If a cybercriminal compromises an executive’s account, they can access sensitive information.

How to Choose the Right Digital Executive Protection Service

Here are the main factors to consider when choosing a digital executive protection service:

Comprehensive Monitoring: Ensure the service continuously monitors social media, public databases, stealer logs, combo lists, 3rd party breaches, and dark web forums for potential threats.
Real-time Alerts: The service should send detailed alerts. The alerts should provide context as well as actionable steps to mitigate the threat.
Incident Response Capability:The service should send takedown notices for phishing sites. It should also remove fake social media profiles.
Proactive Privacy Management: The service should work to reduce the target’s digital footprint. The service should also proactively ensure that sensitive details aren’t leaked.

By choosing the right service, executives can secure their online identities. This avoids many of the risks associated with high-profile roles.