From Ohio school computers to nationwide hospital operations and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, cyberattacks are compromising vast areas of society. Family offices are no exception, with ultra-high-net-worth individuals being a top target for criminal groups around the world.

“Even though family offices might be small employee-wise, they really need to think of themselves like medium-sized companies, because the assets they control be be significant,” said Michael Ehrlich, former chief of operations for a cyber defense group at the U.S. National Security Agency. “It’s surprising the number of businesses and family offices that have in the past four or five years fallen victim to business email compromise attacks and wired money completely to the wrong account, with the best of intentions.”

Ehrlich is now a founding partner of Trifident, a cybersecurity consultancy that works with single and multi-family offices ranging from 30 to 250 employees. In a survey by J.P. Morgan Private Bank of 190 family offices, with an average net worth of $1.4 billion, 24% said they’ve been hit with a cyberattack, and 40% view cybersecurity as a top area of concern.

“We’re trying to help family offices rethink cybersecurity,” said Ileana van der Linde, head of cyber advisory at J.P. Morgan. “A lot of them believe this is a technology problem. But most cyberattacks don’t happen through technology; they happen because of people and process.”

 

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