Security Risk Assessment for Executives 101

As the cornerstone of every protective assignment, a security risk assessment ensures the executive or high-ranking individual is out of harm's way. For the most part, we advise using this tool to evaluate your company's technological standing, including access control, data policies, and other vital assets.  

In their everyday risk management process, companies need to conduct this assessment in order to evaluate their 

• Size, 
• Growth rate, 
• Resources, and
• Asset portfolio.

Doing so allows them to understand their current situation. But, every company warrants a different security risk assessment. Thus, they must engage a proficient executive protection team to set a suitable model. 

Generally speaking, here are a few time-tested actions that most companies apply in this sense: 

• Identifying critical assets of the technology infrastructure.
• Assessing an approach to estimate the identified security risks for critical assets. 
• Establishing a plan to alleviate risks and enforce security controls for each threat. 
• Implementing prevention mechanisms to reduce vulnerabilities to your company's resources. 

At any rate, most things happen online nowadays. Hence, it is worth exploring how an executive can protect their company and themselves by behaving responsibly in their online interactions. 

Online Vulnerability

Most high-ranking individuals and public figures spend hours online every day. However, how many are careful about posting and sharing sensitive information, even via supposedly private chats? Needless to say, not too many. For this reason, we need to evaluate how a security risk assessment must also factor in careless behavior by the protectees. 

In a nutshell, doing so allows the executive protection team to ensure that there is nothing out there that can give out information about the executive, locations, family, or business operations. For instance, if the main protectee is traveling to a foreign country alone and this information is available online, threat actors may target their family at home. 

Along similar lines, a security risk assessment deals with how vulnerabilities can affect their safety, comfort, and schedules, including: 

• Social media, 
• News (and other) articles, or calendars.   

All these items can find their way online without the executive and their personal assistant even realizing it. 

Thus, experienced EP teams conduct a deep dive online to locate and take down information that could adversely impact the executive, their family, and their company. A deep dive is just what it sounds like; it doesn't only entail a regular Google search but advanced techniques as well. 

Such an approach can also benefit the corporate leader's employees and higher-level staff. For instance, they could be posting things that jeopardize your company. In fact, we would even go so far as to say that a security risk assessment should include every single employee — from top to bottom! 

Technology Awareness

Many protection professionals need to be better trained in modern tech. For example, they may have a grasp of how to use CCTV cameras or drive regular EP vehicles. However, that's not good enough any longer! 

As a matter of fact, EP specialists need to be well-versed in all things technology. To create a security risk assessment, they must adapt to the ever-changing threat landscape. Likewise, remember that malicious actors are also tracking which equipment to use for 

• Conducting corporate espionage, and 
• Weakening security defenses, both virtual and physical. 

As we already mentioned, vehicles that protectees drive in have fallen prey to countless hacker attacks. Mitigating and countering these intrusions may warrant engaging an EP expert with a background in IT. In that sense, we recommend hiring a red team that could assuage more advanced security concerns. 

In other words, bear in mind that everything is connected: the home, office, vehicles, and all else in between. As time passes, more and more devices and systems will pile up. In turn, this will make the workload of EP agents increasingly time-consuming. Thus, for starters, they need to have a basic understanding of how to operate technology to make the protectee's environment safer. 

Other Considerations for Security Risk Assessment

As any personal assistant knows, the executive's schedule constantly changes. From unexpected meetings in different cities and states to making a media appearance or managing unanticipated operations, the main protectee typically travels back and forth all the time.  

With access to all this information, a personal assistant can tremendously help supply the security risk assessment with invaluable information on: 

• Trends in the executive's schedule, 

• Administrative support, and 
• Travel arrangements. 

Thus, it would be wise for the executive protection team to ask a PA about information that usually only they possess.  

In addition, not all protectees will have the same security needs. Some may be more prominent in the public's eye, while others can be more low-profile. Whatever the case, they all want to enjoy comfort and security wherever they find themselves. Whether on a plane, in a vehicle, or in a corporate setting, executives expect their security team to assuage their concerns while not intruding on their privacy or daily timetable. 

Ultimately, security breaches and attacks don't happen until they do. To that effect, a security risk assessment does wonders by factoring in all or most threats that could harm or embarrass the protectee. 

In Conclusion

This article explored how a security risk assessment can vastly increase the safety and security of executives, their employees, and their family members. Similarly, the threat landscape is becoming more complex by the day. Disregarding this fact can produce dire consequences for the protectees.  

Suppose the EP company you have engaged sends out someone with difficulty operating a high-tech vehicle to drive you around. In this case, they would be putting your schedules, job duties, and other responsibilities at risk. Not to mention the liabilities that could ensue from being unable to protect the executive from hackers or other malicious actors while en route. 

That is why conducting a security risk assessment in advance makes everything run more smoothly: everyday business operations, family obligations, and the small stuff! 

Bedrock Special Projects provides peace of mind by implementing security risk assessments to benefit prominent individuals, their families, and corporations. The Art of Executive Protection – Delivered with Elegance by Design.  

Drop us a line to learn more!