Research
by
Ponemon
Institute
and
cyber
security
company
BlackCloak
has
found
that
hackers
have
been
directly
targeting
C-suite
executives
and
their
family
members
with
cyber
attacks
via
their
personal
email
addresses.
In
Understanding
the
serious
risks
to
executives’
personal
cybersecurity
and
digital
lives,
which
was
released
on
June
5,
researchers
found
that
42
percent
of
organizations
said
that
an
executive
or
an
executive’s
family
member
had
been
the
direct
target
of
a
cyber
attack.
This
targeted
threat
vector
is
also
referred
to
as
key
employee/role
targeting.
Cyber
Security
Hub
research
has
found
that
more
than
one
in
four
(26
percent)
cyber
security
professionals
believe
that
key
employee/role
targeting
will
have
the
biggest
impact
on
cyber
security
in
2023.
The
Ponemon
Institute
and
BlackCloak
institution
found
that
executives
and
their
families
are
targeted
with
a
number
of
threat
vectors
including
social
engineering-,
malware–
and
network
infiltration-based
attacks.
Chris
Pierson,
founder
and
CEO
of
BlackCloak,
explained
to
cyber
security
news
site
Cybersecurity
Dive
that
“cybercriminals
have
realized
that
most
executives
are
almost
completely
unprotected
outside
of
their
corporate
accounts
and
devices”,
meaning
that
they
are
particularly
vulnerable
to
these
attacks.
The
research
also
found
that
this
issue
represents
a
significant
part
of
cyber
security
employee’s
roles.
On
a
scale
from
one
to
ten,
where
ten
represents
something
intensely
time-consuming,
35
percent
of
respondents
rated
the
amount
of
time
they
spent
on
key
role
targeting
as
a
nine
or
ten.
Read
more
about
social
engineering
attacks
in
Cyber
Security
Hub’s
guide
to
this
manipulate
threat
vector.
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