The Growing Importance of Threat Intelligence in Executive Protection

The New Risk Equation: When Cyber Becomes Physical

The boundary between cyber and physical threats has blurred in ways that would have been hard to imagine even a decade ago. As outlined in the 2025 State of Threat Intelligence report, organizations are now expanding their intelligence programs beyond traditional network defenses to include human and operational risk. This shift reflects a growing recognition that digital vulnerabilities can have tangible, real-world implications.

Digital exposures are no longer confined to online environments; they have increasingly spilled over into the physical realm. Stalking, extortion, and targeted violence are manifestations of this dangerous crossover. In many scenarios, adversaries initiate their assaults with digital reconnaissance—scraping social media for travel plans, property records, or family details before acting offline. This underlines the importance of vigilant digital practices, especially for high-profile individuals.

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, such as deepfake scams and impersonation software, significantly enhance this exposure by undermining trust across digital spaces. Executives are particularly vulnerable—targeted through fake meetings, spoofed emails, and cloned websites designed not just to extract data but to manipulate behavior in both cyber and physical environments.

These developments align closely with the long-standing concept of “converged security,” which integrates cyber and physical security functions. This model is increasingly vital, especially in the face of sophisticated AI-enabled impersonation, synthetic media, and identity fraud. Modern attackers have swiftly blended digital and physical tactics, rendering siloed security functions less effective.

In today’s landscape, organizations that merge cyber, human, and geopolitical data in their security and risk management approaches stand a better chance of spotting early warning signals.

The Executive Threat Landscape Is Escalating

As the lives of executives increasingly intertwine across various platforms, conferences, and global travel, the risks they face have escalated. Adversaries are exploiting this overlap with alarming frequency. Perhaps the most telling indicator of this shift is the rise in doxxing and swatting incidents, which expose the personal data, home addresses, and family details of executives. These tactics—previously associated mostly with public figures or internet trolls—are now creeping into the corporate milieu.

Moreover, deepfake technology has contributed to a surge in impersonation schemes, particularly Business Email Compromise (BEC) scams. The FBI’s latest IC3 report ranks BEC among the highest-loss categories in cybercrime, noting that fraudsters are increasingly augmenting these tactics with AI-generated audio and video. A notorious incident demonstrated this trend when a deepfaked video conference call deceived a finance employee into wiring $25 million.

Cybercriminals have historically timed their attacks for periods when security teams are least active. But post-pandemic work patterns have amplified these vulnerabilities. With executives traveling more frequently and working across various time zones, there are now predictable windows when these individuals are offline or unable to validate communications. Cyber-criminals take advantage of these moments—aligning their attacks with flights, hotel check-ins, and international events when urgency can be manufactured easily.

Extending Threat Intelligence into Executive Protection

Threat intelligence has evolved to monitor not just cyber risks, but human and operational threats as well. This expanded scope is essential in today’s interconnected environment.

Social Media and Open-Source Monitoring

Continuous monitoring of social media platforms, forums, and dark-web conversations is now integral to threat intelligence, as these channels can signal early hostility toward executives or companies. Such intelligence allows security teams to identify impersonation accounts, fraudulent profiles, and phishing domains that pose risks to executives or their organizations. By correlating external data with internal telemetry, teams can separate threats from background noise, leading to more effective deterrents.

Geopolitical and Event Intelligence

Integrating threat intelligence with geopolitical insights and the travel itineraries of executives has become crucial for forecasting unrest. Monitoring social media for protest chatter, for example, enables security teams to tailor their protection strategies to regional risks. Yet a noticeable gap remains: according to ASIS International’s Executive Protection Standard and 2025 Executive Threat Environment report, roughly 26% of organizations rarely or never brief executives before travel. This leaves leaders exposed to threats, particularly in volatile regions.

Integrated Risk Analysis

Advanced executive protection programs are now capable of producing composite risk scores for each executive. These models combine digital indicators, evidence of adversary intent, and physical proximity into a unified view of converged risk. By correlating cyber indicators with human behavior and geopolitical context, security teams can prioritize threats according to their likelihood, aligning both physical and cyber responses for a more cohesive security posture.

From Reactive to Predictive Protection

The 2025 State of Threat Intelligence report reveals that organizations are increasingly merging threat intelligence with related functions, such as security operations and crisis response. Notably, about 13% of organizations incorporate physical security into their intelligence programs, while nearly half (47%) link intelligence with risk management for a more consistent view of exposure.

The report highlights that 58% of organizations use threat intelligence in business risk assessments, while 43% apply it to strategic planning. These trends illustrate that intelligence is evolving from a mere technical input to a foundational element of enterprise-wide decision-making.

Breaking Down Barriers and Embedding Human-Centric Intelligence

Despite the momentum toward converged, intelligence-led security, most organizations still grapple with significant operational and cultural barriers that hinder full integration across cyber, physical, and human domains. The 2025 State of Threat Intelligence pinpointed three friction points: inadequate integration with existing tools (48%), information overload (46%), and lack of contextual relevance (46%). These challenges create fragmentation in how intelligence is collected and shared, complicating the transition from raw data to actionable protection.

Operationalize Threat Intelligence for Executive Protection

Recorded Future’s threat intelligence platform provides the visibility, context, and automation needed to bridge the gap between digital and physical protection. By accessing a vast intelligence repository, Recorded Future continuously ingests data from various sources, including technical telemetry, social media, dark-web forums, and geopolitical feeds.

This integration allows security teams to detect emerging threats across multiple domains, which include:

• Monitoring Online Threat Activity: Keeping tabs on doxxing attempts, impersonation schemes, and hostile sentiments toward executives or employees across social networks and the dark web.

• Identifying Infrastructure Abuse: Tracking fraudulent domain registrations or phishing campaigns that might exploit corporate or leadership identities, thus allowing for preventive measures before they escalate.

• Integrating Geopolitical and Travel Intelligence: Aligning regional risk indicators with executive itineraries ensures that security protocols are responsive to evolving threats.

• Correlating Digital and Physical Indicators: Linking leaked credentials or cloned badges to specific threat actors or geographic movements.

Since Recorded Future integrates intelligence into real-time risk scoring and automated alerting workflows, executive protection and corporate security teams can identify and respond to threats before they escalate.

In today’s digital age, Recorded Future’s capabilities extend threat intelligence beyond mere systems and data, reaching into the realm of personal safety for those who represent the organization.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is executive protection in cybersecurity?

Executive protection in cybersecurity integrates digital threat intelligence with physical security to safeguard leaders against converging risks like doxxing, deepfakes, and physical targeting.

What types of digital threats affect executives most?

Executives are primarily impacted by business email compromises, impersonation, deepfake scams, and personal data exposure on social media and the dark web.

How does threat intelligence improve executive safety?

Threat intelligence facilitates continuous monitoring of digital activity and data leaks to identify credible threats early, offering actionable insights for security teams and executive protection specialists.

What’s the first step to building a converged protection program?

Start by aligning cyber and physical security teams, conducting a combined digital-and-physical risk assessment, and integrating real-time threat intelligence into protection workflows.