Companies have good reason to be worried about the quality of their digital executive protection. 84% of C-level executives are targeted by at least one cyberattack. 78% of IT leaders say the C-Suite is the most likely to be targeted by phishing attacks.
Executives have embraced social media platforms and messaging applications for brand-building and outreach. As PR expert Lee Caraher of Double Forte explained on the Zero Hour podcast,
“Senior executives will increasingly be called on to speak for their companies through social media to establish their company’s position and engage with partners and customers.”
However, valuable as this, it has expanded the threat surface. Threats such as executive phishing pose a serious danger. As Lee went on:
“It’s not a question of if someone will try to hack your executive’s account, it’s a question of when, and it’s PR’s job to make sure we limit risk to secure the communication channel and message.”
What are the deeper truths of cybersecurity for executives? How are organizations understanding and approaching the issue of executive protection? We decided to poll the experts to find out.
Blog: Read about how to defend your organization against executive phishing.
The takeaways of our executive protection are compelling.
- There is a disconnect between the perceived threat level, and the overall level of oversight.
- Though businesses recognize the danger of account takeover and phishing, too many executives are left to their own devices when it comes to posting and interacting.
- Risk management roles are not fully established or defined. Compliance and security departments need to collaborate to devise and implement effective cybersecurity for executives.
Survey: Download the full report to share it with your team
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