What are the cyber threats facing family offices? What actions can be taken to be more secure?

Quantitative data analysed in this report was derived from an online survey of 121 individuals in Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific and the Emerging Markets (the Middle East, South America and Africa). A significant majority of research participants came from single family offices (SFOs) and family businesses, with the average estimated level of family wealth at $1.1bn. 11 qualitative interviews provided context and clarification of the key findings that emerged from the in-depth analysis of the quantitative data.

There are many different types of threats which may be encountered. A brief description of some of the most prevalent and dangerous are listed below:

Cyber crime

Criminal activities carried out by means of technology, that is not only limited to computers and the internet

Smart home technology

New technology that is connecting homes, via means of automatisation that poses a new threat to reputation and privacy

Ransomware

A form of malware whereby data is held to ransom

Social engineering

A form of cyber attack that involves the specific targeting of an individual

Phishing

A form of social engineering attack whereby a legitimate looking email scam is sent

Intelligence databases

Holdings of publicly available data on organisations and individuals