What Is Executive Privacy Risk Management and Why Does It Matter?

Learn everything you need to know about executive privacy risk management and why it should be a priority for your business.

In today’s hyper-connected world, company executives are prime targets for cyberattacks, online privacy violations and social engineering. Even data breaches, which seem to occur all the time, can compromise a company and leak personal information, raising the stakes for businesses as well as executives and their families.

Enter executive privacy risk management, which is the practice of identifying, mitigating and monitoring risks to personal and business information.

Even a small mistake — like reusing an old password that was exposed in a data breach or posting too much about your life on social media — can have major consequences. Bad actors leverage all the public data they can find and will even hack databases to access sensitive information.

This can lead to all sorts of consequences ranging from reputation damage to identity theft and even real-world harassment.

In this article, we’ll give you a comprehensive overview of executive privacy risk management. You’ll discover how to identify vulnerabilities, prevent attacks and use best practices to protect your digital presence — both personally and professionally.

Whether you want to safeguard your data, recover from an incident or build a stronger digital reputation, you’ll find the strategies you need to stay safe.

Our team of Executive Privacy Specialists can help you proactively protect your digital footprint and prevent unauthorized data access. Call us at 941-259-4554 for more information.

How Is Data Exposed? Data Collection, Hacks and More

Today’s executives generate a ton of personal and professional information, often without even realizing it. This information can be collected, analyzed and, worst of all, exploited by bad actors, posing major risks to individuals and their organizations.

Data exposure doesn’t stop at traditional hacks anymore. Your information can now be exposed through corporate filings, news stories, publicly available sources and social media activity.

The reason why executives are at a particularly high risk is that their personal details are accessible through multiple channels. Information that’s usually easy to find out about executives includes:

• Date of birth
• Full name
• Home address
• Phone numbers
• Financial information
• Family members’ names

This information can be used to conduct sophisticated attacks such as deepfake impersonations, extortion, identity theft, SIM swaps, or social engineering. From there, it’s easy for cybercriminals to use the information to deceive clients or colleagues.

Breached Password Dumps

Public breaches often include reused or weak passwords. This gives attackers a direct way to access personal and professional accounts if you don’t practice good password hygiene.

Corporate Filings and Public Records

Executives’ details are often available through corporate registrations, government filings and property records. Even seemingly basic information, like who has a board membership or the name of the person who owns their home, can be exploited for attacks.

Data Brokers and People-Search Sites

It’s common practice for companies to collect personal information about people and sell it to third parties. Data brokers and people-search websites contain an extensive amount of information that can be used against the individual or their company.

Open-Source Intelligence

Hackers regularly gather public information from news articles, press releases and websites to put together a detailed profile of the executive.

Social Media Metadata

Even a harmless social media post can reveal a person’s connections, locations and routines. Cybercriminals are able to exploit this information to map the executive’s daily movements — or those of colleagues, clients, family members or friends. Check-ins, event tags and geotags give away much more information than you realize.

How Do Hackers Use This Information?

There are numerous ways that hackers can use the information they gather: 

• Convincing phishing emails or social media messages can be crafted.
• Publicly available information can be used to bypass two-factor authentication.
• Service providers can grant access to a person’s account if they’re tricked by an impersonation scam.
• Sensitive information can be used to demand ransom or manipulate your reputation.

Knowing the different ways that data can be exposed is a necessary first step to protecting your identity online. By figuring out where your information exists and how it can be exploited by threat actors, you can take proactive steps to reduce your vulnerability and risk.

Common Threats

The cyber and privacy threats that executives face all have the potential to compromise corporate, financial or personal information. Understanding the following threats is necessary to create an effective risk management strategy. Executives are prime targets because of the high-value information they control.

Malware

Malware is malicious software that’s designed to damage or infiltrate devices and networks. Examples of malware include ransomware, spyware and trojans. Malware can steal credentials, encrypt sensitive files, demand ransom payments and monitor activity.

Phishing

With a phishing scheme, cybercriminals impersonate trusted sources via email, text messages or social media. The goal is often to trick the executive into revealing financial details, passwords or sensitive corporate data. 

Ransomware

Ransomware attacks encrypt or lock devices and demand payment in order to restore access. Sometimes, cybercriminals will threaten to leak sensitive data to the public if a ransom isn’t paid.

Viruses

A virus is a program that replicates and spreads across devices and networks. Once a virus infects even one device, the result means that attackers are able to gain access to confidential files, corporate systems and emails. 

Emerging Threats

The above threats have been around for a long time, but there are also modern and emerging threats to be aware of, such as:

• Attacks that exploit IoT devices
• Credential stuffing using breached passwords
• Deepfake impersonations

Advanced tactics like these must be proactively addressed to avoid financial, safety and reputational fallout.

If you need help recovering from or preventing security incidents, contact our executive protection agents at 941-259-4554 today.

Mobile Security Threats

Mobile devices are much more than simple tools for executives. They’re gateways to private corporate data, sensitive personal information, and strategic business decisions. 

Having the convenience of checking emails, browsing company documents and staying connected to the team while traveling also introduces a heightened risk of security threats. Ultimately, though they’re necessary tools of the trade, mobile devices can also compromise personal and professional privacy.

Location Tracking

Mobile devices are able to reveal your movements in a number of ways:

• Apps that request location permissions
• Check-ins when arriving at a place
• Geotagged social media posts

This exposes the executive’s routine, regularly visited locations and travel itineraries. This data can then be used for corporate espionage, targeted phishing, theft or surveillance.

Threats In Public Places

Executives tend to face risks that most other employees never encounter. Public spaces, especially at airports and hotels, often have compromise or insecure connections. This makes it easy for hackers to intercept communication. 

There’s also shoulder surfing to be aware of. Shoulder surfing happens when someone reads (and steals) your personal information by looking over your shoulder. This can be done either in person or via binoculars or cameras.

By watching your online activity when you’re in a public place, threat actors can get your passwords, PINs and other important data.

Advanced Mobile Exploits

There are a lot of highly sophisticated types of attacks used by cybercriminals, such as:

• Malicious QR codes that trigger the installation of malware
• Spyware that can remotely access calls, location data and messages without the user knowing
• Stalkerware that monitors device activity

All of these types of breaches can help hackers gain access to login credentials or sensitive files.

Proactive Mobile Security Measures

• Always use encrypted communications and secure messaging apps.
• Limit the use of public Wi-Fi and use a VPN when you’re on an unsecured network.
• Set up two-factor authentication login systems.
• Regularly update your apps and operating system.

Our clients come to us when they need mobile security services or executive protection advice. Call us at 941-259-4554 to learn more.

Understanding the Difference Between a Breach and an Incident

There are distinct differences between a data breach and a privacy incident, with responses, reporting requirements and consequences varying between the two.

Understanding the distinction prevents you from delaying action, dealing with regulatory penalties or suffering from reputation damage.

What Is a Data Breach?

A data breach is when confidential, protected or sensitive information is accessed or disclosed without authorization.

For executives, this could include corporate secrets, financial data, login credentials or private communication.

• Breaches are often the result of targeted attacks, including:
• Compromised cloud platforms or third-party services that store executive data
• Malware or ransomware infiltrations on corporate networks or executive devices
• Phishing campaigns that target executives or staff

When a data breach occurs, the organization may be legally required to notify affected individuals, regulators and stakeholders. Beyond financial loss, the fallout can include damage to the executive’s and the company’s personal image.

What Is a Privacy Incident?

A privacy incident is when personal or sensitive information is compromised either accidentally or intentionally. Importantly, this happens without malicious access from the outside. Privacy incidents are serious, but they’re sometimes less serious than a data breach. 

Examples of privacy incidents include:

• An employee accidentally sends private information to the wrong recipient
• Contractors or staff members violate corporate policies
• Executive data is accidentally exposed in an internal system

While these incidents don’t involve unauthorized access from the outside, they still need prompt attention. Plus, they can point to gaps in security processes that audits, employee training or stronger privacy policies can fix.

9 Practices for Keeping Executive Privacy Safe

A strategic and multi-layered approach can protect executive privacy. Executives are excellent targets for cybercriminals, corporate spies and identity thieves. By taking the following proactive steps, you can reduce your exposure, secure your sensitive data and protect your reputation and the reputation of your company.

Secure All of Your Devices

Executives who travel often should treat their mobile devices as sensitive assets.

Set up biometrics, multi-factor authentication and strong passwords on all of your devices, including your smartphones, laptops and tablets. Turn on automatic screen lock when devices are idle for a minute or two. Also, implement the ability to remotely wipe a device if it’s lost or stolen.

Additionally, make sure to never leave your device unattended in a public space even if it has all of these security features enabled.

Reduce Your Digital Footprint

Executives tend to appear on a lot of sites that publish personal information:

• Corporate listings
• Nonprofit listings
• Social media platforms
• Websites

It’s crucial to limit your exposure on these sites. 

First, review professional websites, public directories and social media profiles. Remove unnecessary information, especially personal details, from these sources.

Second, review your non-essential subscriptions. Update your contact information to use anonymized data and pseudonyms. Or, delete those accounts entirely if you’re able to.

Lastly, moving forward, avoid posting information about routines, travel plans or family milestones online.

By reducing your digital footprint, you make it more difficult for hackers to gather the information they need to launch an attack.

Use Anonymization

The process of anonymization alters data so it can’t be directly linked to a single person. This is helpful when collaborating outside of your company or sharing reports with others. 

While anonymization reduces risk, it’s not a foolproof plan. Exposure is still possible if anonymized data and non-anonymized data coexist.

Still, it’s wise to use anonymization as an extra layer of defense, especially when collaborating externally or sending sensitive communications.

Protect Data With Encryption

Encryption protects data while it’s in transit as well as when it’s stored. Encrypted information can only be read if someone possesses a decryption key. That means that if the data is lost or stolen, hackers won’t be able to access it unless they also have the key.

Use encryption on cloud storage, emails and any sensitive communication. Moreover, executives must manage encryption keys securely and destroy them when they’re no longer needed.

Train Your Employees in Executive Privacy

Commonly, employees are a weak link in the executive privacy chain. A common cause of data breaches is when an employee clicks on a malicious link in an email or opens an unsafe attachment. It’s important to implement safety training programs to teach employees about:

• Avoiding suspicious links and unverified downloads
• Creating and maintaining strong passwords
• Recognizing phishing attempts, even if an email appears legitimate
• Safe browsing practices and how to determine if a site is trustworthy

When your staff is well-trained, they add extra defense for executives.

Secure Your Network

You’ll only be able to effectively protect executive data if you have a secure network.

• Hide Wi-Fi networks and secure them with strong passwords
• Use firewalls to block and monitor unauthorized access
• Separate networks for corporate, IoT and personal devices
• Keep IoT devices, routers and software updated

Additionally, regularly run audits of the network to detect any vulnerabilities.

Stay Safe When Traveling

As mentioned, executives who travel a lot face especially high security risks, often having to do with their mobile devices. Follow these best practices:

• Avoid using public Wi-Fi networks
• Use a trusted VPN when you have to access the internet
• Don’t conduct sensitive activities in public
• Encrypt all of your mobile devices
• Protect devices with multi-factor authentication
• Deny apps that ask for contact or location permissions
• Only communicate over secure, encrypted apps

Security breaches can be harder than usual to deal with when traveling, which is another reason why it’s extra important to prevent them in the first place.

Mitigate Risks in the Household

It’s not uncommon for cybercriminals to target executives indirectly via household staff or family members. For example, an attacker may exploit the information they gather about an assistant, child or spouse to gain access to accounts.

Reduce the risk in your household by following these best practices:

• Educate family members about online safety
• Encourage family members not to overshare online
• Don’t post about your family’s routine or travel schedules
• Make sure that household devices and Wi-Fi networks are secure
• Create separate accounts for family members

Extending your privacy practices to the household will close a vulnerability that’s often overlooked and easy to exploit.

Conduct Regular Privacy Audits

Maintaining executive safety and privacy isn’t a one-time task; it’s an ongoing process. Every month, you should run audits for the following:

• Check data broker and people-search listings for newly added information
• Review public directories and social media profiles
• Verify device security, including account permissions and network configurations

Monitoring in this way identifies issues before they develop into something worse. For help with auditing and monitoring, call our executive protection experts at 941-259-4554 today.

4 Steps for Risk Identification

Risk identification is a cornerstone of privacy management for executives. It pinpoints the areas where corporate assets and sensitive information are most vulnerable, seeking to understand how threats could exploit them.

• Asset Mapping: Identify important assets, including accounts, corporate data, devices, digital reputation and personal information.
• Threat Assessment: Determine potential threats like cyberattacks, insider risks, physical breaches and social engineering attempts.
• Vulnerability Analysis: Review employee behavior, processes and systems for weaknesses that could lead to unauthorized access.
• Probability and Impact: Determine the likelihood of each risk occurring, along with the consequences for the executive and company if it does.

By identifying risks before they happen, executives and organizations are able to prioritize security measures and allocate necessary resources in advance.

Final Thoughts About Executive Privacy Risk Management

Executive privacy isn’t optional. It’s a critical safeguard for businesses and individuals, as well as anyone connected to them.

Malicious actors love to target high-profile individuals. And even a minor oversight can lead to a security issue.

Proactive management requires employee education, technology, policies and ongoing attention. Each layer, from reducing your digital footprint to training your staff and updating network security, protects you a bit more against traditional and modern threats.

Do you need to speak with an expert about executive privacy? Get in touch with us by calling 941-259-4554 today.