Hackers, AI videos or emails cloning real people, data breaches, targeted viruses, and phishing scams – there is no shortage of things to worry about when it comes to cybersecurity these days.
For family offices, it’s especially important to keep your information safe and secure, especially in today’s ever-changing digital landscape.
It starts with being proactive and remaining alert. Here are some ways to ensure your family office is protected from cybersecurity threats in 2025.
Protecting Your Family Office
Establish habits that don’t risk harm to your family office.
Hackers aren’t always looking to target huge institutions. In fact, they are often more successful in targeting smaller businesses or family offices. That’s why it’s crucial to get things in place that don’t set you up as a soft or easy target. Passkeys, strong multi-factor authentication, and continuous verification are defenses that can keep your business safe.
If your family office team is traveling or working remotely, make sure they are logging in to secure Wi-Fi networks. If you and your team use phone apps while on-the-go, be sure to always download apps from official app stores like the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, or directly from a company website.
Also, even if your family office team is smaller, it’s important to have someone on your team – or a company hired from the outside – that knows about establishing an infrastructure and getting processes in place that minimize the risk of cyber incidents.
Invest in training.
The Internet is changing all the time and that means the threats out there are, too. Make sure to keep your staff educated and updated with regular training. Topics could include what to post and what not to post on social media, what to click and not to click, and what kind of online questions to answer or not.
In addition, educate your team on phishing and email ransomware to reduce your risk of attackers getting into your business emails. Furthermore, talk about how to identify and confirm who you’re really talking to online.
For example, an attacker may pretend to be a family member and email someone on your team requesting financial assistance or asking for access to sensitive information or documents. Have processes and policies in place that verify that the requests are real.
Review processes and policies regularly and adapt accordingly.
Set aside time every few months to assess your cybersecurity risks and go over current practices and policies. If there are gaps, find out how to close those to ensure greater online safety. This may require bringing in an external professional who knows about security to help.
At this time, it’s also a good idea to practice how you would treat a cyberattack. Practice what you would do by working through your responses and test your readiness, and assign roles to each team member in your family office on who will handle what. Don’t wait until a real attack happens – if you already have a plan in place and have practiced what to do ahead of time, the stress – including financial repercussions could be less.
Another thing to consider is to have cyber insurance. This can help cover costs of a breach, including legal expenses or data recovery efforts. Be sure to read closely about limits and exclusions so you know if the insurance will cover your specific needs.
Vigilance Is Your Best Protection
In today’s digital era where we are always connected and always online, it’s often not a matter of if you’ll experience a cyberattack someday, but when. Ultra-high-net-worth individuals or family offices are an ideal target, as well, simply due to the variety of accounts, credit cards, and investments that they have.
So, be suspicious of anything that comes in that you don’t recognize, back all of your data up each month, stay on top of software updates that have security patches, and use a password manager. These are just some of the tried-and-true methods of keeping your family office protected.
It only takes one slip up for a breach to occur. Stay on alert and be vigilant: your business depends on it.
