In December 2024 a prominent CEO was shot and killed outside of a Manhattan hotel where they were attending an investor meeting. The incident has drawn significant public attention, with speculation surrounding both the suspect’s motives and the broader implications for corporate security, given ongoing controversies and protests against the company at the time of the attack.
The best way to protect your company and your executive assets from this risk is developing a comprehensive executive protection and secure journey management plan.An intelligence led approach can limit your risk exposure and enhance your executive protection in a variety of ways.
– Adam DeLuca, Everbridge Director of Risk Intelligence
Monitoring
Early detection of threat and risk is invaluable to executive protection. Monitoring collection platforms in real-time allows you to identify potential threats before they become major problems and enables executive protection teams to proactively manage risk to their clients in a timely manner.
Utilizing Different Types of intelligence
OSINT gathers information from publicly available sources. Human intelligence collects information obtained through direct contact with individuals who may have relevant insights. Signal intelligence monitors electronic communications and data to identify potential threats. Protective intelligence focuses specifically on identifying and assessing threats to an individual. These types of intelligence analyze incredible amounts of data from various sources to provide a comprehensive picture of the threat landscape to help shape risk assessments.
Trend Analysis / Threat Assessments
Looking at the threat landscape and doing comprehensive threat assessments allows security teams to anticipate potential risks and vulnerabilities, develop targeted mitigation strategies, and make informed decisions to safeguard the principal through detailed situational awareness, rather than simply reacting to incidents.
Situational awareness
By monitoring real-time information, intelligence provides a comprehensive understanding of the environment surrounding the executive, including potential dangers in specific locations or during travel.
Comprehensive City and Country Reports
Key highlights & helpful hints
Threats and risks present differently in different parts of the world. Having a comprehensive understanding of the threat landscape in certain areas – to include data driven crime maps, no-go zones, travel and cultural guidance, and risk assessments – allows executive protection teams to address the applicable risks from country to country.
Our comprehensive risk management services are designed to enable businesses to operate safe in the knowledge that everything possible is being done to ensure their people and other assets are protected. We combine deep security expertise with innovative technology to help you deliver the policies, training, protection and responses needed – no matter what.
In the face of an active assailant threat, Everbridge provides real-time alerts powered by sophisticated risk intelligence systems. This checklist offers a collection of strategic steps designed to enhance an organization’s readiness to face potential active assailant threats. By implementing these strategies, organizations can not only create safer environments but also build confidence in their prevention and preparedness frameworks, ensuring everyone is equipped to respond effectively in the event of an incident.
Cybersecurity in financial services presents unique challenges in strengthening resilience against potential threats. Financial institutions not only need to combat cyber threats such as web application attacks, bad bots, ransomware, and phishing attacks, but also maintain uptime before, during, and after such breaches to ensure seamless customer service and regulatory compliance.
The cost of cybersecurity risks
According to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report 2024, the global average cost of a data breach reached USD 4.88 million, a 10% increase from the previous year and the highest total ever recorded. A third of breaches involved shadow data, highlighting the difficulties in tracking and safeguarding proliferating data. Organizations using security AI and automation extensively in prevention reported average cost savings of USD 2.22 million compared to those that didn’t. Beyond these staggering statistics, financial institutions face even greater fears in lost business costs, including increased customer turnover, lost revenue due to downtime, and the rising cost of acquiring new business due to diminished reputation.
Regulatory landscape
The FFIEC (Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council) has strengthened its mandates for operational resilience, business continuity, and crisis management within the financial sector. This increase in regulation and compliance expectations underscores the necessity of automation across operational risk areas to achieve efficiency in processes, knowledge, and impact assessment. Regulators focus on the impacts of operational outages and their industry-wide effects, requiring detailed tracking, audit logs, and evidence of executive oversight.
The importance of cyber resilience
For financial services to succeed amidst heightened regulatory requirements and complex digital threats, cyber resilience extends beyond simply remediating attacks. It involves maintaining a reputable and trustworthy brand and product for customers. Organizations must prioritize building a resilient operation so that any disruption, whether from a cyberattack or other causes, has minimal impact on customer experience and avoids major non-compliance fines. Through digital transformation and a commitment to automation, financial institutions can build maximum operational resilience, enhance customer experience, and achieve positive returns on technology investment.
The domino effect of disruptions
Digital disruptions in large financial firms can have cascading negative impacts. Cybersecurity-related risks can lead to direct costs for affected banks and ripple effects on counterparties within the financial sector and the broader economy. Becoming cyber resilient means more than shielding against a single disruption; it requires active prevention against the negative domino effect such disruptions can trigger. With much of the financial sector’s success rooted in customer trust, falling victim to a chain of events that impact on the economy puts institutions at high risk of lost business. It truly pays to be prepared.
Operational resilience through digital transformation
Innovations in incident management, including greater automation, integration, data-level visibility, and user-friendly advances, support the infrastructure necessary for uninterrupted customer experiences. Everbridge critical event management can help financial services establish and maintain ‘Operational Resiliency ROI’ by minimizing business downtime and accelerating incident resolution through automated communications, collaboration, and orchestration. It streamlines incident response across IT Ops, Service Ops, Sec Ops, DevOps, and IT BC/DR, equipping employees with the information and resources needed to support digital transformation and deliver uninterrupted customer experiences.
For more insights, watch our webinar on cybersecurity preparedness and protection.