Summer 2020 Cybersecurity Spotlight: Special Focus on Family Offices

It is important to know that Family Offices come in all shapes, sizes, and level of services depending upon the unique requirements of the multi-generational family they support. Family Offices are essentially professional services businesses which are built to serve the professional and personal needs of the family members. There is no typical family office, as they can range from essentially a single family member with administrative support to a multi-faceted organization with dozens and sometimes over 100 employees. Most Family Offices have just a few employees and outsource many functions. There typically is a CEO or president who leads a team of business professionals, including: accountants, attorneys, investment managers, tax managers, charitable foundation managers, event and travel planners, physical security specialists, and others as needed.
 
However, most Family Offices outsource their information technology (IT) services to either local small IT firms or large professional services companies. As a result, the level of cybersecurity expertise available to most Family Offices tends to vary from very little and cheap to a lot but very expensive. Increasingly, cyber criminals have turned their focus on Family Offices, as they see a significant opportunity to steal a great deal of valuable information and money and face a minimal amount of cybersecurity measures to overcome.
 
In BDO’s latest report, we explore what cyber threats mean for the family offices, specifically:

• The Rise of Cyber Threat Actors Targeting Family Offices
• Top 12 Cybersecurity Challenges for Family Offices
• Implementing Threat-Based Cybersecurity for Family Offices