The world of executive protection has really undergone a game change. This was usually a luxury service mostly utilized by those very wealthy individuals. But nowadays it has become an essential item in the overall risk assessment strategy for organizations of all shapes and sizes. The threat risk is not only confounded to physical violence but also can manifest within digital attacks, personal targeting as well as reputational damage. Inadequate protection strategies can have devastating results.
What the past has taught us
U.S. companies are spending record amounts to keep their executives safe in response to rising threats and the killings of two high-profile corporate officials in separate attacks in Manhattan over the last eight months. Corporations have doubled the number of plain-clothed security teams outside buildings in New York City since a shooting last week in which four people were killed, said Glen Kucera, president of the enhanced protection services unit at Allied Universal, a security and facilities services firm.
“It’s unspeakable. I never knew anyone who was murdered,” said Rich Friedman, chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, who previously worked with one of the victims, Blackstone executive Wesley LePatner. 43-year-old Wesley LePatner had been working for Blackstone since 2014, when she joined their real estate division. LePatner’s strategic skills and mentorship abilities provided much value to the company. Her death shook Wall Street, even though authorities believe her killing was a random event.
When threats start to turn violent
Police said the shooter was targeting the headquarters of the National Football League, which is housed in the same building in the Midtown area of Manhattan where LePatner worked. The shooter also killed a New York City police officer, building security guard and employee at real estate company Rudin before turning the gun on himself. The attack was “shocking and hits very close to home,” Citigroup spokesperson Ed Skyler said in a note to employees a day after the July 28 killings in Midtown.
“Understandably, yesterday has also left many of us feeling uneasy,” he said, assuring employees that the bank has beefed up security at its Manhattan headquarters over the last year. Threats against executives “have massively ramped up since 2020,” said Chris Pierson, the CEO of cybersecurity firm BlackCloak. He noted how the man charged with murdering a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband near Minneapolis in June allegedly kept a target list of mostly other politicians and used online people-search services to find their addresses.
A holistic approach to protection
Cybersecurity service BlackCloak provides digital executive protection for high-profile individuals, corporate executives as well as board members. The comprehensive safety tool set they provide is geared at the digital environment. It follows a holistic approach, protecting both the digital lives as well as the assets of the executives. Ben Joelson, head of security risk and resilience for the Chertoff Group, a security advisory firm, said threats against executives are higher than at any time in the decade he has worked in the field, with social media posts magnifying complaints against institutional leaders.
Artificial intelligence is compounding the problem, leading to an “exponential rise” in realistic phishing attempts, Joelson was cited as saying in a report by research firm Equilar. Median spending on executive security for top officers including chief executives, chief financial officers and others rose 16% to a record $106,530 last year, according to new data from Equilar, which reviewed financial filings for the 500 largest U.S. public companies by revenue.
Security spending includes surveillance and alarm systems for executives’ homes, personal guards and cybersecurity protections. Equilar analysts said the trend is likely to continue as firms grapple with the growing threats to their executives and employees. This level of threat protection may have seemed a tad overly dramatic if this was taken into account quite a few years back. Underestimating this in the current day and age, can have devastating consequences. And these consequences can ripple out further to the entire business environment. Not only on the operational side, but also from a financial perspective. The consequences will be felt everywhere.
GCN.com/REUTERS.
