Cybersecurity for Family Offices

The Next Chapter in Protecting Your Principals

You already safeguard your client’s wealth, estate, and legacy. Today that responsibility extends to their phones, inboxes, homes, and the people they love. Explore the real incidents families like the ones you serve have experienced, how we resolved them, and the research that shows why every family office needs a robust cybersecurity program.

Two Threats Your Principals Would Never See Coming

A private island with an open door to cybercriminals

A vacation home can become the weakest point in a family’s security. During a routine home network scan for a member with a residence in an exclusive island community, BlackCloak found one networking device serving dozens of homes, yachts, a private club, and private dock slips. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission had banned the device, and it still used its factory default password. A cybercriminal could easily see resident names, addresses, vessel details, and dock slip numbers.

Our team worked with the community’s IT administrator and management firm to lock it down before retesting to make sure every client home was safe.

When an unknown company loses your principal’s data

Most people have never heard of Conduent. It quietly handles mail, billing, and paperwork for major health insurers and government agencies. Hackers sat inside its systems for almost three months, from October 2024 to January 2025. The company has since reported that more than 62 million people were affected, with names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and medical information exposed.

BlackCloak constantly monitors and detects personal information that has been exposed across the open, deep, and dark web. We then suppress and remove it from data broker sites, stepping in fast if someone tries to use it.

eBook

How to Develop a Cybersecurity Strategy for Your Family Office

Access our practical guide to protecting principals, family members, household staff, and every home in between.

Why Personal Cybersecurity Belongs in Every Family Office

  • 57% of North American family offices have experienced a cyberattack since 2023
  • 83% of U.S. single-family offices rank cyber risk as a top concern
  • 7 in 10 households have exposed account passwords
  • 39% of BlackCloak clients had been hacked before they became members

Source: Deloitte, RSM Family Office Operational Excellence Report 2024, BlackCloak client data.

Where Families Are Most Exposed

  • Identity theft and financial fraud

    Criminals open credit lines, lift credit freezes, and request wire transfers in a principal’s name. Many families only find out after the event.

  • Deepfakes and impersonations

    A cloned voice or a convincing email that appears to come from a principal can trigger a payment or a data leak within minutes. Household staff and advisors are often the ones on the receiving end.

  • Aging parents and romance scams

    Older family members are prime targets for scammers who spend weeks building trust before they ask for money.

  • Children and the next generation

    Gaming, social media, and college life expose younger family members to scams, oversharing, and account takeovers.

  • Multiple residences and smart homes

    Every camera, router, and smart device across each property and yacht gives criminals another door to try.

  • Travel and changing conditions abroad

    International trips put devices on unfamiliar networks, often in places where political and social conditions can change quickly.

Podcast

Understanding Cybersecurity for Family Offices

BlackCloak’s Managing Director of Private Client Services Sarah Rosen explains the scope of threats targeting high-net-worth individuals and how Family Offices can close the gap.

Four Families, Four Cyberattacks, Four Outcomes

Case 1

Case 1

Family stops a persistent attacker

Bank of America alerts showed that someone was trying to open an account in the principal’s name. They tried creating new passwords for their accounts, but the attacker kept getting back in.

Our Concierge Team traced the problem to a compromised personal email account. The criminal had set up hidden filters to bury the bank’s warnings, and the family’s passwords sat in an unsecured notes file, reused across accounts from Venmo to Instagram. We secured every email and financial account with two-factor authentication, reset reused passwords, and moved the family to a secure password vault. The attacks stopped, and the family now has ongoing support.

Case 2

Case 2

A multigenerational family ends years of repeated hacks

A former technology company owner, referred by her wealth management firm, managed accounts for herself and several generations of her family. Her credit cards were compromised repeatedly, and alerts kept warning her about login attempts on her smart devices. Her password manager wouldn’t sync, so she’d started reusing passwords and storing them in unsafe places.

BlackCloak built a five-step plan, changed every vulnerable password, trained her on a password manager, and turned on two-factor authentication across her accounts. A home network review also found her security cameras were exposed, so strangers could see inside and outside her home. Today every family device runs BlackCloak, with 24/7 device protection and risk monitoring. Each member has access to unlimited concierge support.

Case 3

Case 3

A son protects his mother after a $500,000 romance scam

An 81-year-old widow met a cybercriminal masking as a businessman on a dating app. After weeks of daily conversations and virtual meetings, he convinced her to send $205,000, then accessed her home equity line of credit. Her losses reached nearly $500,000 before her son uncovered the scam and brought in BlackCloak.

A reverse image search of the scammer’s passport photo found him listed on a romance scammer alert website. We worked with compassion, securing the Client’s home network and devices, added two-factor authentication, credit monitoring, fraud alerts, and credit freezes, and restricted home equity borrowing.

Case 4

Case 4

A wealth manager’s family shuts out exposed cameras

During onboarding, BlackCloak tested a wealth manager’s home network and found 12 security cameras open to the public internet with no password protection. Anyone could watch the feeds, and an older, compromised router put every device in the home at risk, including his work devices.

Working alongside the firm’s IT team, BlackCloak replaced the router, secured the cameras, and fixed every other risk we found, then retested the network. Weekly scans now keep the home secure, and deception technology on every personal device adds another layer of protection for the family and family office.

Why Family Offices Choose BlackCloak

  • The family and firm on one membership

    Principals, spouses, children, aging parents, household staff, and advisors. We protect an unlimited number of devices and every home and yacht, wherever the family lives or travels.

    The BlackCloak app’s Your Homes screen: homes covered and the latest network scan
  • Comprehensive enterprise-grade coverage

    BlackCloak works alongside your existing IT and physical security providers. Our Concierge Team handles setup, monitoring, detection, incident response and ongoing support, so your office stays focused on the family.

  • Full-service incident response

    When something goes wrong, our in-house, U.S.-based incident response team contains the threat and supports those impacted through the remediation and recovery process.

  • The BlackCloak app’s Your Privacy screen: exposed personal data removed and protection progress

    Discretion by design

    Privacy is the foundation of everything we do. We never monitor your internet activity, see into your accounts, or the content of your messages.

Client Testimonials

Resources for Family Offices

Protect the Families You Serve

Family offices, wealth advisors, and private clients trust BlackCloak to keep principals and families safe from cyberattacks. Book a private consultation to learn more about our services.