Europe has around 2,500 family offices. And if you don't know exactly what a family office is: imagine a…
Lara B. — Building Cyberr
Europe has around 2,500 family offices.
And if you don't know exactly what a family office is: imagine a small office that manages the wealth of one very rich family. Investments, stocks, private equity, the real estate, the tax and legal structuring, inheritance and succession, the philanthropy, and a good part of the family's personal life on top of it.
The average one runs about $2B with fifteen to thirty staff, employs around 4 IT people, and fewer than one of those does cybersecurity.
That small office holds everything about the family. Where they live. Where they fly. What they own. Their health. Their children.
Above $1B in assets, 62% of them have been attacked in the last two years. The bigger the office, the more it's worth breaking into.
Only 24% have a crisis plan. These are people who plan three generations ahead. Tax, succession...
They have the money. They spend one to three million a year just to run the office. My guess is it comes down to trust. They've known their IT provider for ten years, and a security firm they've never met would have to see everything.
That's a guess though, and I'd rather be corrected than confident.
So if you work in or around a family office: do they know they're this exposed and accept it? Or do they think the IT provider has it covered?
7 reactions · 1 comments
Comments
Mark C.: This isn't just family offices, but also high net worth individuals, sovereign wealth, and institutional funds. In my 30 plus years managing security and risk exposure for financial services I've seen small niche business make millions yet complain when they have to allocate some of that profit because it impacts their bottom line.