Hackers are increasingly targeting the personal emails, devices, and home networks of senior-level executives, which are often more vulnerable.
According to a report by BlackCloak and the Ponemon Institute, this trend is a response to organizations improving their cyber defenses. The shift toward remote work has also heightened this threat. In a survey of 553 IT and IT security practitioners, 42 percent of the respondents said there had been cyberattacks against senior executives and their families.
Despite this, only 53 percent of the respondents said their organizations prioritize preventing cyberattacks on executives outside the office. And only 50 percent of organizations actively track potential threats against their executives.
Attacks Against Senior Executives
According to the report, the threat to C-suite executives includes doxxing, personal email attacks, impersonation, ransomware, fake email and social media accounts, extortion, and malware infections. Attacks against executives can allow threat actors to access intellectual property and confidential company information. It’s worth noting that senior executives are also more likely to send private company files to their personal emails.
The report showed that measures taken to protect the digital lives and devices of executives are generally ineffective. The primary step organizations take to secure home networks and devices is updating personal devices, with 56% of respondents indicating this as their main focus. This is closely followed by patching vulnerabilities (52%) and using password managers (51%).
The responsibility for protecting the digital lives of executives largely falls on IT security experts, according to the report. However, 15% of respondents stated that no one was most responsible. This lack of clear responsibility highlights a significant gap in the cybersecurity infrastructure of many organizations. This also puts executives at risk.
The report recommended training executives to protect their personal devices.
“Executives are the weakest link in the ability to protect their lives and digital assets,” the report said. “Only 32% of respondents say executives take some personal responsibility for the security of their digital assets and safety and only 38% of respondents say executives understand the threat to their personal digital assets.”
Defending Against Cyber Threats
Cyber threats are becoming increasingly sophisticated and harder to defend against. C-suite executives may find themselves in the crosshairs of cybercriminals leveraging AI.
“Cybercriminals are actively working to find weaknesses and exploit the personal digital lives of executives and other high-access individuals because they represent the softest points of entry into organizations, making it more important than ever for IT security to find practical solutions to protect their organizations and their executives’ personal digital well-being,” the report said.
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