“We’ve Never Had a Breach”: The Five Most Dangerous Words in Wealth Management

Think your family office is secure? Think again. Why "We’ve never had a breach" could be the most dangerous phrase in wealth management. 

It was a casual conversation over coffee. 

A principal of a prominent family office leaned in and said, almost as reassurance to himself, “We’ve never had a breach.” 

I nodded, then asked, “How would you know?” 

That pause—that moment of silence—is what inspired this post. 

Because cybersecurity isn’t about alarms going off. 
It’s about what happens when nothing seems to be happening. 

Family offices are discreet by nature. You minimize exposure. You trust your inner circle. You avoid unnecessary visibility. 

That creates a sense of control. 

But trust, when left unchecked, becomes a blind spot. 

The 2024 Global Family Office Report from JP Morgan puts cybersecurity among the top concerns for offices globally. Yet fewer than half of those surveyed conduct annual security reviews. Even fewer train personal staff. 

Privacy, while important, isn’t the same as protection. It might keep you out of the spotlight but it won’t stop a breach. 

The old model of protecting a defined perimeter no longer works. Your digital footprint extends far beyond an office server. 

It includes: 

• The Wi-Fi network in your second home 
• Your child’s iPad with location permissions enabled 
• Your assistant’s Gmail login stored in a browser 
• The third-party concierge who handles your travel itinerary 

The threat isn’t some dramatic breach. It’s access—granted quietly, often unknowingly.

If you’re like most family offices, simplicity is a guiding principle. Fewer tools. Fewer vendors. Less moving parts.

But in cybersecurity, simplicity without strategy often leaves gaps.

Here’s where we most often see risk hiding in plain sight:

1. Trusted staff with broad access but little oversight
   Executive assistants, house managers, accountants—they hold the keys, but rarely get cybersecurity training.



2. Legacy systems with legacy thinking
   Outdated devices or software still in use to avoid disruption.

3. Unvetted vendors handling sensitive data

   Travel planners, property managers, and other service providers who fall outside compliance standards—but inside your circle of trust.

4. A belief that privacy equals security
   Being discreet helps. But it doesn’t protect you from a well-crafted phishing attempt or a leaked credential on the dark web.

Let’s be clear—you’re already doing the hard part.

Managing wealth, governance, and legacy across generations is already a serious responsibility.

This is simply another layer of it.

You don’t need to be a cybersecurity expert.
But you do need clarity.

Here’s where to begin:

• Don’t assume everything is fine—verify it.
• Build security expectations into how your office operates, not just into your tech tools.
• Audit the people around you—not just the platforms.

This isn’t about panic. It’s about consistency.

Small habits create resilience. Quiet risks, left alone, become liabilities.

If you're wondering whether you're exposed, begin with questions like:

• When was the last time we reviewed who has access to sensitive financial systems?
• How secure are the personal devices of the people closest to our operations?
• Do our service providers—especially those outside the financial space—take security seriously?

The best answers often come from asking the right questions.