High net worth individuals and families

High Net Worth individuals and families or family offices are always a lucrative target for cybercriminals to commit cybercrimes. A study conducted in April during Covid-19, that states that 44% of workers are working from home. Operating remotely involves video conferencing service, remote working platforms, and virtual private networks. They use these to log in to their office servers and manage various financial and confidential matters. Through phishing, malware, and social engineering, Cyber attackers try to get into the financial accounts, email servers and even obtain personal information to perform identity theft.

• Owing to their reputation and very often - fame, they are easy targets to cybercriminals. They fish out sensitive private data and use those in-

  • Dark web
  • Corporate espionage
  • Commit frauds by stealing funds, etc.
• They tend to live a luxurious life and maintain a public persona, which makes them more vulnerable to deception. Hackers can exploit their sensitive and overly conscious nature and make them a victim of money extortion.
• Beyond their wildest guess, they may be doxed by even their ex-partner! Then there are stalkers, hacking groups, private investigators, foreign governments, and journalists! They just home in on High net worth individuals and gradually invade their home and household devices.
• Viruses like ransomware are used to take over a system until compels the individual to pay the ransom. DDoS (distributed denial of service) floods a network and prevent access to files and folders. Then there are malware, spyware, adware attacks, where hacker uploads illegal items from child pornography to Illicit tax documents.
• “It’s essentially planting evidence of criminality onto your computer in a way that’ll get you arrested,”
  Rasch, a cybercrime expert states.
• Cyber-intruders also know how to get into voice-activated devices, webcams, Nest thermostats, and self-driving cars. Rasch says, “If there’s a vulnerability in one, there’s a vulnerability in all.”