At a time when many CEOs are reevaluating their companies’ risk of cyber-attacks due to the growing tensions with Russia, it is also important that CEOs take additional measures to protect themselves from direct personal attacks – as hackers are increasingly targeting executives in their private lives in order to pull off large corporate breaches.
C-suite executives are the ideal target for any hacker, since these individuals have the greatest level of access within the company, they often have sensitive data stored on their devices, they can access the company’s financial accounts, and their email account (or other communication channels) can be used to instruct other employees to perform sensitive tasks like wire transfers.
Executives are usually well-protected when inside the corporate network, but in many cases that security vanishes as soon as they step outside. Their home networks, personal devices and personal accounts often have little to no meaningful protection.
This makes them an easy target for hackers, and we are seeing a significant increase in both criminal and nation-state operations that are zeroing in on executives as the initial point of attack.