Summary: Executive protection covers physical safety, privacy, and cyber risks. It helps security teams monitor and respond to threats that high-profile individuals face.
The term executive protection goes back to the 1970s, when the US Secret Service popularized it. Since then, the risks that executives face have changed.
Many threats start online now and have less to do with a title and more to do with exposure. A public-facing leader can draw impersonators or harassment without ever sitting in the C-suite. Senior IT admins can be targets, too, because their privileged access is a backdoor into executive accounts. Yet, many companies still treat executive protection as something reserved for Fortune 500 CEOs.
The goal of executive protection is to prevent threats before they happen. It covers several areas, such as threat intelligence, privacy protection, and emergency response Here is how it works.
Executive protection is the security discipline that protects executives, board members, and other high-profile professionals from physical danger, privacy exposure, cyberattacks, and reputational harm Its goal is to prevent security incidents and reduce their impact when they occur.
The field began with physical protection, including bodyguards, secure travel, residential security, and event planning. These measures are still important when a leader faces a credible physical threat. But today, most incidents start online. A home address, travel schedule, leaked password, or fake social profile can facilitate fraud, account takeover, stalking, or a physical attack.
Protection needs also vary by person and situation. Public exposure, location, organizational role and the likely consequences of an incident all matter. For example, a lower-ranking employee working in an area with a high kidnapping risk may require more protection than a CEO working in a lower-risk office. Published in 2025, the Executive Protection Standard by ASIS International recommends a risk-based approach built around threat, vulnerability, and risk assessments rather than job title alone.
Threats against executives are becoming more common. The Executive Threat Environment report shows that in 2025, 72% of security professionals observed an increase in public threats to executives and 61% reported more direct threats.
These 3 pillars are interconnected. An executive’s public fitness route may reveal their home address. A leaked phone number could lead to a SIM swap or targeted phishing attempt. A fake profile may help an attacker contact an assistant and obtain a travel schedule.
This area focuses on protecting an executive at home, at work, at public events, or during travel, and it includes:
In some countries, high-profile professionals may be at risk of kidnapping, extortion, or targeted violence. Executive protection agents often have backgrounds in law enforcement or the military, and threat assessment methods also draw on research such as US Secret Service studies of attacks against public figures.
Some companies invest heavily in physical executive protection. For example, Meta has spent around $24 million per year in recent years on Mark Zuckerberg’s personal security, while Alphabet has disclosed about $8.8 million for Sundar Pichai’s security.
According to the Executive Threat Environment report cited earlier, 82% of security teams use open-source intelligence (OSINT) for threat assessment. The catch is that cybercriminals can also use these publicly available sources to identify and collect information about executives This leaves high-profile professionals vulnerable to business email compromise (BEC) tailored spear-phishing attacks, and physical security threats.
The goal of privacy protection is to reduce that exposure. Security teams may check for and remove, where possible:
This pillar focuses on protecting an executive’s accounts, credentials, online identity, and data. Today, executive digital protection programs rely on threat intelligence. Security teams use it to monitor for cyber threats linked to executives, assess them, and track how risks develop over time. Examples of threats monitored include:
Executives have authority. They control money, access sensitive data, and make business decisions. If an attacker compromises an executive account, they may use it for:
The FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report recorded 24,768 cases of business email compromise (BEC), resulting in over $3 billion in reported losses The report doesn’t specify how many of these complaints involved executives, but executive impersonation is a common BEC tactic.
Executives are also easier to research than many other employees. LinkedIn, company bios, conference pages, interviews, press coverage, and social media can reveal information about their roles, contacts, travel, and relationships.
Personal accounts, home networks, and family members can also create extra exposure as they are outside of corporate security controls. For example, a family member’s public posts can reveal an executive’s locations, routines, or relationships.
While cybersecurity protects an organization as a whole, executive cyber threat protection focuses on senior leaders and other high-value professionals who face targeted threats, such as:
Digital executive protection can also include online privacy, data broker removal, personal account protection, and threat intelligence. Monitoring high-profile people’s exposure in real time is one of the most important parts of executive cyber protection. If cybercriminals discuss a specific individual, either on the dark web or a Telegram channel, the security team gets an alert and can take measures to stop an incident.
However, as the Executive Threat Environment report shows, many organizations still have gaps. Only 42% of security teams say they are fully capable of protecting executives’ digital assets and communications, compared with 57% who consider this highly important.
Executives can face both digital and physical threats. Here are common ones that affect executives:
NordLayer Intelligence analyzed dark web listings between September 2023 and September 2026 and found that executive account takeover is the largest market for cybercriminals targeting executives. In 70% of analyzed posts, sellers offered corporate mailbox access, with Microsoft 365 as the main target
According to Mantas Sabeckis, Senior Analyst from NordLayer Intelligence, sellers trade Office 365 and SMTP credentials in bulk packs and price them by freshness urging buyers to move quickly before credentials expire.
Executive impersonation works differently. It is never sold as a packaged service—attackers build it step by step. Vendors sell executive and high-net-worth lead lists along with bank-customer datasets, giving attackers the names and contact details they need to reach the right person.
The above threats require a clear process. Executive protection programs include cyber threat intelligence which helps identify and address online harassment, doxxing, BEC, impersonation, and other risks. The executive protection process involves the following steps:
Automation helps teams scan more sources and check them more often. However, human review is still needed because a leaked password and a threat against an executive’s home require very different responses.
This process should also be paired with a crisis plan that defines:
Teams should also have a backup communication channel in case mobile networks, corporate messaging systems, or internet access fail. The plan should include current contact details, check-in times, and who confirms that everyone is safe.
Once you know what executive threats to watch for, the next step is choosing how to monitor them. When comparing executive protection tools, look at:
Security teams that want to monitor leaked executive credentials, exposed personal data, and online threats can use NordLayer Intelligence for digital executive protection
It monitors selected executives for exposed data, dark web mentions, and other threat signals, and sends alerts with details about the affected person and the exposed information. The service runs through a web application, so executives do not need to install software on their devices.
This approach can also protect other high-value people outside the corporate C-suite. For example, Vilnius Tech added the personal phone numbers of vice-rectors, deans, and IT staff to the monitoring system. Its 5-person security team used leaked-credential alerts to block accounts and require password resets. The university reported that it stopped 15 incidents before they escalated and saved more than an hour of manual threat hunting each week.
Want to see what information about your executives may already be exposed online? Talk to our sales team about protecting the people who matter most to your business.
No. Board members, finance leaders, IT administrators, founders, public spokespeople, and assistants may face similar risks. In fact, a lower-ranking employee in a high-risk location may need more protection than the CEO. The decision should reflect access, authority, public visibility, location, and current threats rather than job title or company headcount.
Reset the affected password, revoke active sessions, check for password reuse, and review recent sign-ins and account changes. If an infostealer caused the leak, inspect the device and remove the malware before the executive signs in again. Preserve evidence and review connected accounts for further access.
No. Monitoring can find exposure and provide earlier warnings, but it cannot erase every copied dataset, prevent every phishing message, or secure every unmanaged device. Companies still need identity controls, device security, user training, incident response, and physical protection where the threat calls for it.
Joanna Krysińska
Senior Cybersecurity Copywriter
Joanna writes about zero trust, network security, access control, and threat prevention, but her cup of tea is compliance and how regulations shape security controls. Her work also includes the dark web topics and the methods cybercriminals use to target companies, such as social engineering or ransomware attacks, for example.
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