Family Office High Net Worth Individuals Security Handoffs

Posted On:Oct 20, 2026
Posted By:Michael Braun

Family office high net worth individuals security when the company protects the CEO

Family office high net worth individuals security gets complicated the moment a principal’s employer starts protecting him. The company assigns a protection detail to its chief executive. That detail covers the office, the car, the business trip and the conference stage. It rarely covers the spouse at the school gate, the children on a Saturday, the home at night or the family holiday. The gaps between what the company protects and what the family office protects are where I see real risk.

This week’s reporting from Scandinavia brings the issue into focus. On Saturday, October 17, 2026, Finansavisen, carrying a report from the news agency NTB, said that Norway’s Kongsberg Gruppen had introduced tighter security measures for individuals, including security personnel around its chief executive, citing the Norwegian site Nettavisen. On Tuesday, October 20, NordicDefenceWatch reported comments from Saab chief executive Micael Johansson on threats against defense industry leaders, which he called “concerning” and “part of the job”, and the company’s refusal to discuss its measures.

Both reports follow a Financial Times story, summarized by Finansavisen on October 12, that five European intelligence services had warned of plans against senior figures in the defense industry. That summary also recalled an incident in August, when two young Russian tourists were detained in Sweden after pitching a tent near the property of the Saab chief executive. They were released shortly afterward.

I am not going to comment on geopolitics. My interest is narrower and practical. When a company decides that its chief executive needs protection, what happens to the rest of the family, and who makes sure the corporate program and the family program fit together?

This article supports the sections on the family office trust chain and on coordination within a professional program in our complete 2026 overview of high net worth security. The pillar explains that a program needs coordination across the home, travel, staff and the family office. This article deals with a specific, growing version of that problem: the seam between corporate executive protection and the family’s own security.

For the cyber and extortion side of family office risk, see our piece on family office high net worth individuals security threats. Here I focus on people, places and handoffs.

Two security officers seen from behind brief each other at an estate gate at night as a dark sedan waits inside

Key takeaways

When an employer protects a chief executive, the protection usually follows the role, not the family. Spouses, children, the home and private time often fall outside its scope.
Kongsberg confirmed, according to reports, that it had introduced security personnel around its chief executive. Saab declined to discuss measures for specific individuals. Reticence is sensible, and it also means families cannot assume what is covered.
The home is part of the exposure. A summary of FT reporting recalled two people pitching a tent near the property of Saab’s chief executive in August.
The handoffs that matter are the office to the car, the car to the home gate, business trips that include family, weekends and holidays, and the moment an executive leaves the company.
Intelligence sources quoted in the reporting said the main aim was psychological. Intimidation that makes a family feel watched is a physical security issue, because it changes behavior and it can precede action.
Security for UHNW family offices should include a written agreement with corporate security on information sharing, handoffs and incident response.
Recommended HNW security teams treat the corporate and family programs as one threat picture with two budgets, not two separate worlds.

What has been reported

I will stay with what the publications above have reported and attribute it to them. The intelligence claims come from sources quoted by the Financial Times, as summarized by Finansavisen and NordicDefenceWatch. I have not been able to read the FT original, which is behind a paywall.

Kongsberg: security personnel around the chief executive

Finansavisen’s NTB report of October 17 said that Kongsberg Gruppen, the Norwegian weapons manufacturer, had introduced tighter security measures for individuals, including personal protection for the company’s chief executive, according to Nettavisen. The background, the report said, was increased concern about Russian grey-zone activity aimed at European defense industry and critical infrastructure. A Kongsberg press spokesperson, Ivar Simensen, confirmed to Nettavisen that the measures include the use of security personnel around the top executive and declined to go into other measures.

The same report recalled that in 2024 American and German intelligence uncovered Russian plans against defense leaders in Europe, including Rheinmetall chief executive Armin Papperger, as CNN reported at the time, and that according to Nettavisen Papperger is now escorted by as many bodyguards as the German chancellor. It also said that the Norwegian ammunition maker Nammo told NTB in 2024 that it kept close contact with Norway’s police security service.

Saab: “part of the job”

NordicDefenceWatch, in a report published on October 20, quoted Saab chief executive Micael Johansson, speaking at a press briefing the previous week. “Of course, it’s concerning,” he said of the risks facing senior figures. “Unfortunately, I have to say that it’s part of the job. But there are skilled people around me who handle it.” The publication said Kongsberg had confirmed over the weekend that it had tightened security and introduced personal protection for chief executive Eirik Lie, and that Nammo said it had also taken measures in response to what it described as an “increasingly challenging situation”.

Saab’s head of press, Mattias Rådström, told the publication that employee safety is a priority and that the company’s security work is adapted to current assessments and needs. He declined to say whether additional measures had been taken. “For security reasons, we do not go into the specific measures we have in place or how our protection is structured,” he wrote, adding that the company does not comment on measures relating to specific individuals or roles.

NordicDefenceWatch also reported that Fredrik Janse, chief executive of the Swedish security firm SRS, had previously told the publication that threats against senior executives in the defense sector had become more common and that demand for personal protection at specific events and locations was rising.

The wider warning

Finansavisen’s summary of October 12 said the FT had spoken to sources in five European intelligence services, who warned that smaller companies were also exposed, particularly makers of drones and drone components. According to the summary, several defense leaders told the FT that they had strengthened personal protection over the past six months on government advice, and Germany’s domestic intelligence service recommended private bodyguards among other measures. An intelligence source was quoted as saying that the main aim on the Russian side remained psychological, and that fear alone could make leaders hesitate. Another source said many attempts were amateurish.

The tent near the property

The same summary recalled that in August, two young Russian tourists were detained in Sweden after pitching a tent near the property of Saab’s chief executive, and were released shortly afterward. I draw no conclusion about their intentions; the report does not offer one. I mention it because it illustrates where corporate protection and family security meet. The tent was not near the office. It was near the home.

Two programs, one family

In my years running protection programs, I have worked on both sides of this seam. On one side, corporate security, which answers to a board, a general counsel and a budget tied to the company. Its client is the role: the chief executive, the founder, the chair. On the other side, the family office, which answers to the family. Its client is the household: the principal as a husband and father, the spouse, the children, the parents, the homes.

Both sides are usually competent. Both sides usually mean well. The problem is that each is designed around its own client, and the threat does not respect the boundary.

Someone who wants to frighten or harm an executive does not care whether the executive is on company time. They care where he can be found and what will put pressure on him. In my experience, the people around a principal, and the places he goes when he is not working, are exactly where that pressure is applied.

Family office high net worth individuals security therefore has to start from a simple principle: one family, one threat picture, even if there are two programs and two budgets.

Where the handoffs are

When I map an executive household, I look for the moments where responsibility passes from one program to the other. Each is a point where something can be dropped.

Office to car

Corporate protection often covers the principal from the moment he leaves home until he returns, but the car and driver may belong to the company, the family or a third party. Who checks the vehicle? Who chooses the route? Who knows the schedule? If the corporate detail hands over to a family driver at the office curb, both sides need to know when and how.

Car to home gate

The arrival at the residence is one of the exposed moments of any day. If the corporate detail drops the principal at the gate and leaves, the residential team has to be ready to receive him: gate open on arrival, approach watched, no waiting in the street. If the home has no residential team, the principal walks from the car to the door alone. Our article on the car door and arrivals explains why that moment matters.

Business trips with family

When a spouse or children join a business trip, the corporate detail is protecting the executive at meetings. Who is with the family at the hotel, at the museum, at the restaurant? In many cases, nobody has asked.

Weekends and holidays

Corporate programs vary. Some cover the executive around the clock. Others cover business hours, travel and events. Weekends at a second home, a family holiday, a child’s sports tournament, a private dinner with friends can all fall outside the scope. Those are exactly the times when a principal is relaxed, predictable and accompanied by the people he cares about.

The private life of the principal

Gym sessions, a regular café, a walk with the dog, church on Sunday. Corporate security may treat these as private time. The family may assume they are covered. Someone needs to decide.

The spouse and children: outside the corporate scope

When I read that a company has introduced personal protection for its chief executive, my first question is always: what about the family?

The reporting I have cited does not say what Kongsberg, Saab or any other company does for executives’ families, and I am not suggesting they have done anything wrong. Companies are right not to discuss it. But in general, the family is often outside the formal scope of corporate protection for practical, legal and budget reasons. The company’s duty runs to its employee. It may extend some measures to the household, such as a residential assessment, alarm upgrades or a security briefing. It rarely extends full protection to a spouse’s daily life or the children’s school runs.

Private security for high net worth family members fills that space. It means:

An assessment of each family member’s routines and exposure, not just the principal’s.
Decisions about which routines need a driver, a protector, a changed time or simply awareness.
A school plan agreed with the school.
Briefings for the spouse and older children on what to watch for and who to call.
A clear rule that family members tell the security lead about unusual contacts, unknown cars, strangers asking questions and unexpected deliveries.

Our article on private security for high net worth families under threat covers the moment when family members are named in threats. The point here is earlier: when the principal is under threat because of his role, the family is in scope whether or not anyone has named them.

The home: who owns the residence?

The residence is where the seam shows clearly. The company may have paid for an alarm upgrade or installed cameras. The family office pays the residential officers or the monitoring contract. The principal’s personal assistant manages the gate list. The house manager handles vendors. Who, in this arrangement, owns home security for high net worth individuals?

The tent near the property of Saab’s chief executive, as recalled in the October 12 summary, is a useful illustration. Something unusual happened near the home. Who would notice it at your residence? Who would they tell? Would the corporate security team hear about it, and would the family?

For executive households, I recommend that one party owns the residence and that the other is formally informed. In practice, the family office or the family’s residential provider usually owns it, because the home is the family’s. Corporate security receives a summary of the residential plan, a contact for the residential team and a standing agreement that anything unusual near the home is shared with them on the same day.

Our residential security teams work this way with several executive households: we own the home, the corporate team owns the role, and we talk every day.

Information sharing between corporate security and the family office

The difficult part of the seam is information. Corporate security may know about threats received at the office, online campaigns, protest plans or law enforcement warnings. The family office may know about a stranger at the school gate, a vendor asking odd questions or a car seen outside the house twice. Each side has half the picture.

There are good reasons not to share everything. The company has confidentiality obligations and its own legal concerns. The family has privacy. But a threat picture built from half the information is not a threat picture.

What works, in my experience, is a short written understanding between the two sides covering:

What each side will share as a matter of routine, such as threats or incidents that touch the home or family, schedule changes and travel.
What each side will share immediately, such as a credible threat, an approach to a family member or a law enforcement warning.
Who the named contact on each side is, with backups.
How shared information is stored and who can see it.
What happens in an incident: who leads, who calls police, who speaks to the family.

Security for UHNW family offices is often discussed in terms of payments, authority and data. This understanding is part of the same discipline. It is the trust chain extended to the people who protect the principal.

Psychological pressure is a physical security problem

One phrase in the reporting deserves attention. An intelligence source quoted by the FT, according to Finansavisen, said the main aim on the Russian side was psychological, and that fear alone could make leaders hesitate. NordicDefenceWatch’s summary said the threat goes beyond physical attacks to include psychological pressure designed to intimidate individuals.

Families sometimes hear “psychological” and relax. I do not. Intimidation works through physical presence: someone near the house, a car that follows, a message that shows knowledge of the children’s school, a figure outside the office at the same time every day. Whatever the intent, these actions change how a family lives. They also tend to show that someone is collecting information, and collection is often the first step toward action.

A professional program treats every sign of being watched as both a psychological and a physical event. It records it, assesses it, shares it across the seam and responds proportionately: a word with police, a change in routine, extra presence at the home, a briefing for the family. The goal is to take away the sense that the family is alone, which is exactly what intimidation relies on.

Signs of being watched: what to record and share

Because intimidation and surveillance often look ordinary, families and staff need a simple idea of what is worth recording. I give households a short list and ask them to err on the side of mentioning things.

A vehicle seen near the home, the office or a regular venue more than once, especially if it is parked with someone inside.
People photographing the house, the gate, the cars or the staff.
Someone camping, loitering or walking repeatedly near the property, particularly at unusual hours.
Questions from strangers to staff, neighbors, vendors or children about the family’s routines, travel or security.
Unexpected deliveries, letters or packages addressed to the principal or family members at home.
Drones over or near the property.
Messages that show knowledge of private details, such as a child’s school, a holiday destination or a spouse’s routine.

For each item, record the date, time, place, what was seen and, where it is safe and lawful to do so, a photograph or a plate number. Do not confront anyone. Pass it to the security lead the same day. In an executive household, the security lead passes relevant items to corporate security under the information-sharing understanding.

One sighting rarely means much. Patterns do. That is why a single log, shared across the seam, matters more than any individual report.

Vehicles and drivers: whose car, whose driver?

Vehicles are a frequent source of confusion in executive households. The company may provide a car and driver for business. The family may have its own cars and a family driver. A principal may drive himself at weekends. Each arrangement has different checks, different routes and different people who know the schedule.

Questions that clarify the picture:

Which vehicles does the principal use, and who maintains and checks each one?
Who are the drivers, who vetted them and who trains them?
Who plans routes, and do the corporate and family drivers know each other’s patterns?
When the principal drives himself, does anyone know where he is?
When family members use company cars or drivers, who is responsible for them?

Our article on security drivers for UHNW families explains what a trained security driver adds. In an executive household, the important step is making sure that every vehicle and every driver is inside one plan, whoever pays.

A handoff at the gate: how it should look

To make this concrete, here is how a well-run evening arrival works in an executive household where the company protects the principal at work and the family protects the home. The details vary by property; the shape does not.

Before the principal leaves the office, the corporate detail sends a short message to the residential team: leaving now, expected arrival time, vehicle, anything unusual during the day.
The residential team checks the approach to the house on camera and, where appropriate, on foot. Anything unusual is reported back before the car arrives.
As the car approaches, the gate opens so the car does not wait on the street. A residential officer watches the approach and the street.
The car pulls inside the gate. The corporate protector confirms the principal is inside the property and hands over to the residential officer.
The corporate detail leaves, or stays if the threat level calls for it. The residential team logs the arrival.
If the principal plans to go out again that evening, privately, the residential team and the family decide who accompanies him, and the corporate team is told.

None of this is complicated. It takes a few minutes of planning and a habit of communication. Without it, the moment of arrival, which is one of the exposed moments of any day, belongs to no one.

Staff in executive households

Household staff in executive households carry information that both programs need protected. The house manager knows the schedule. The nanny knows the school runs. The chef knows when guests are coming. The gardener sees who walks past the house.

When a principal is under threat because of his role, staff should receive a short, calm briefing: the household is taking extra care for a while, here is what to report, here is who to tell, here is what not to discuss outside the house. Staff who feel included become part of the protection. Staff who are kept in the dark may be approached by people who are happy to fill the silence.

The pillar article’s section on household staff covers vetting, need to know and departures. In an executive household, I add one more point: staff should know that corporate security exists, and who the family’s security lead is, so that they never have to guess who to call.

How a professional program handles the seam

When MSB Protection works with a household where the principal also has corporate protection, we organize the work around five elements. None of them requires the family to duplicate what the company already does.

One threat picture

We build a single assessment of the threats to the family, including the role-based threats the company knows about, as far as it can share them, and the household threats the family knows about. The assessment names the likely adversaries in general terms, the ways they could act and the places and people they could use. It is reviewed whenever either side learns something new.

One protective intelligence picture

Protective intelligence, meaning the work of noticing people who show interest in the family, is shared. The company’s team may monitor online threats against the executive. The family’s team monitors the home, the routines and the family’s own exposure. Both feed one log. Our article on protective intelligence from online to physical explains how that monitoring works.

Written handoff procedures

For each regular handoff, office to car, car to home, business trip to family time, there is a short written procedure: who hands over, how they communicate, what each side checks. These procedures are rehearsed, not filed away.

A shared incident plan

If something happens at the home, the family’s team leads and informs corporate security. If something happens at the office or on a business trip, corporate security leads and informs the family’s team. If something happens to a family member, the family’s team leads. Each scenario has a named lead and a contact sequence.

Regular contact

The two teams speak regularly, weekly in calm periods and daily when the threat level rises. A quick call on Monday about the week’s schedule prevents a lot of confusion on Thursday.

Security for UHNW family offices: governance and who pays

Money and governance are where many seams start. Some companies pay for residential measures for their executives. Some pay for nothing outside the workplace. Some offer an allowance. Tax and benefit treatment of security spending varies, and I am not a tax adviser, so I leave that to the family’s accountants and the company’s counsel.

What matters for protection is that the arrangement is clear. Security for UHNW family offices should include a written note of:

What the company provides, for whom, when and where.
What the family provides, for whom, when and where.
Who pays for shared elements such as residential upgrades, secure vehicles or travel security.
Who decides when the threat level changes and protection needs to increase.
What happens to each element if the executive changes role or leaves.

This note prevents the situation I have seen more than once, where each side assumed the other was covering a weekend, a trip or a family member, and nobody was.

When the executive leaves the company

One handoff is often forgotten until it happens. When an executive retires, resigns or is replaced, corporate protection usually ends, sometimes quickly. The threat may not end with it. People who held a grievance against the company or the executive do not necessarily update their view because of a press release.

Family office high net worth individuals security should plan for that moment in advance:

Agree with the company, ideally in the employment arrangements, how long protection or residential support continues after departure.
Have a family program ready to take over, with the threat assessment, the residential plan and the protective intelligence log handed over properly.
Review the family’s exposure after departure. A former executive is less visible in some ways and more exposed in others, for example when new business ventures or public roles begin.

Transitions are a known period of risk in every protection program. Planning them is far easier than improvising them.

Close protection for UHNW families on business trips

The business trip that includes family is a clear seam problem. The executive has a detail for meetings. The spouse and children have a schedule of their own: hotel, sightseeing, restaurants, perhaps a separate flight. Close protection for UHNW families on these trips should be planned as one operation.

One advance covering both itineraries: venues, hotels, routes, hospitals, police contacts.
A decision, based on the threat picture, about whether the family needs its own protector or driver while the executive is in meetings.
Shared communications between the corporate detail and whoever is with the family.
Agreed meeting points and timings when the two groups come together.
A plan for the family to leave quickly if something happens to the executive, and the reverse.

Our piece on close protection for UHNW families traveling abroad covers travel planning in depth. The point here is that a family on a business trip is not an add-on to the executive’s schedule. It is a second protected group.

Home security for high net worth individuals in executive households

When a principal is under threat because of his role, the home deserves particular attention, because it is the place a hostile actor can find without inside information. Home security for high net worth individuals in executive households should cover:

The approach and surroundings. Who can watch the house from public land? Where would someone park, stand or, in the case recalled from Sweden, camp? Cameras and patrols should cover those places.
Arrivals and departures. Gate timing, waiting areas, the handoff from the corporate car.
Deliveries and visitors. Screening at the gate, away from the house.
Staff. Staff in an executive household may be approached for information. They should be briefed and know who to tell.
Response. Who responds to an alarm, how fast, and how corporate security is told.

The residence is also where intimidation tends to be felt strongly by the family. A visible, calm, professional residential presence is a clear way to show the family that they are not facing it alone.

Personal security for high networth individuals beyond the defense sector

The reports in this article concern the defense industry. The seam they illustrate is common to many sectors: technology founders, executives of companies in controversial industries, crypto entrepreneurs, pharmaceutical and health executives, media owners, investors in public disputes. In each case, the company may protect the role and the family must protect the household.

Personal security for high networth individuals in these roles should start from the same questions:

What does my employer actually provide, and when does it stop?
Who protects my family when I am at work?
Who protects my home when I am traveling for the company?
Who tells whom when something unusual happens?
What happens if I leave?

If the answers are unclear, the seam is open.

Private security for high net worth family members: the spouse as a principal

In many executive households, the spouse is a public figure in their own right, runs a business, sits on boards or leads charitable work. Treating the spouse purely as “family of the executive” misses their own exposure. Private security for high net worth family members should assess the spouse as a principal: their routines, their public appearances, their own online presence and any threats directed at them.

The same goes for adult children who work in the family business or have public profiles. Our article on adult children and in-laws covers that wider family.

High net worth security services: questions to ask

When a family office is choosing high net worth security services for an executive household, these questions show quickly whether a provider understands the seam:

Have you worked alongside corporate executive protection teams before? How did you divide responsibilities?
How would you handle the handoff at our gate when the corporate car drops the principal?
What would you share with corporate security, and what would you keep within the family?
How do you protect the family on business trips that include them?
What is your plan if corporate protection ends suddenly?
How do you treat signs of being watched, such as a car outside the house or someone near the property, and who do you tell?

Our executive protection and residential teams answer these questions for families in Los Angeles and Southern California. Clear answers matter more than impressive ones.

What recommended HNW security teams do at the seam

When families ask what separates recommended HNW security teams from others, part of the honest answer is how they behave when another team is involved. A professional team does not compete with corporate security for the principal’s attention or budget. It:

Builds one threat picture with the corporate team, as far as information can be shared.
Agrees written handoffs and rehearses them.
Shares information quickly and appropriately.
Takes responsibility for the parts of family life the company does not cover, without gaps.
Plans for the end of corporate protection.
Treats intimidation as a real security event and responds calmly.

At MSB Protection, our in-house research and development team works on methods to counter threats to UHNW clients, including how corporate and family programs can share a threat picture and close handoff gaps without exposing confidential information on either side.

Children of executives: school, activities and weekends

Children are where the seam is easy to overlook. Corporate protection almost never covers a school run. Yet when a parent is under threat because of his work, the school gate, the sports field and the weekend birthday party are among the places an adversary could find the family without any inside information.

For executive households, I recommend that the family office, not the company, owns the children’s plan, and that corporate security is told when the threat picture changes so that the children’s plan can change with it. In practice that means:

A quiet conversation with each school about who may collect the children, how the school will contact the family and what the school’s own security arrangements are.
A driver, or a trained family driver, for the school run when the threat level rises.
Care with photographs and posts from school events, sports fixtures and holidays.
Older children briefed, in an age-appropriate way, on what to notice and who to tell.

Our article on school run security for UHNW children covers the daily journey in detail. In an executive household, the important addition is that the children’s plan is linked to the corporate threat picture, so that a warning received at the office reaches the people who drive the children the same day.

When the threat level rises: a shared step-up plan

The reporting this week describes companies that strengthened protection after government advice and a changed threat picture. Families should expect the same pattern: long calm periods, then a sudden rise when a warning arrives, a campaign starts or an incident happens to someone in the same sector.

A step-up plan, agreed in advance between corporate security and the family office, prevents a scramble. It sets out, for two or three threat levels:

What the company adds for the principal: longer protection hours, more advance work, secure vehicles, changes to public appearances.
What the family adds: residential officers overnight or around the clock, a driver for school runs, protection for the spouse during public commitments, closer monitoring of the home.
What changes for everyone: fewer published schedules, more care with posts, stricter visitor rules at the home.
Who decides that the level has changed, and how quickly each side can put its measures in place.
How and when the level is reviewed and stepped down.

When a level change is agreed in minutes rather than debated for days, the family is protected during the period that matters. Our piece on a 30-day plan for UHNW family offices shows how to build this kind of planning into the first month of a program.

The same seam in Los Angeles

The cases in this article are Scandinavian, but I see the same seam in Southern California every year. Technology and entertainment executives in Los Angeles often have corporate protection at work, at premieres or at conferences, and very different arrangements at home in Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Malibu or the Valley. Founders who have sold companies lose corporate protection overnight while their public profile stays high. Executives of companies in public disputes find that protesters, critics or fixated individuals turn up at their homes rather than at the office.

In each of these situations, the questions in this article apply directly. What does the company cover? Who covers the family? Who owns the residence? Who tells whom? What happens on the day corporate protection ends? Families who answer them before they need to are in a far stronger position than families who find out during an incident.

What families and family offices can do now

Ask the principal’s employer, in writing, what protection it provides, for whom and when it stops.
Map the handoffs: office to car, car to home, business trips with family, weekends, holidays, private routines.
Decide who owns the residence and tell the other side.
Agree a short information-sharing understanding with corporate security, with named contacts.
Assess the spouse and children as principals in their own right.
Prepare for the end of corporate protection before it happens.
Brief household staff on what to report and to whom.
Commission a security assessment that covers the household and the seam, not just the home.

Frequently asked questions

What is family office high net worth individuals security?

It is the security work a family office organizes for a wealthy family: assessment, residential security, protection for family members, travel security, protective intelligence, staff procedures and incident planning. In executive households, it also covers coordination with any protection the principal’s employer provides.

If my company provides me with bodyguards, does that protect my family?

Usually not fully. Corporate protection is generally designed around the role and the workplace. It may include some residential measures, but the daily lives of a spouse and children, private time, holidays and the home at night often fall outside it. Ask your employer what is covered and plan the rest with your family office.

Who should be responsible for home security in an executive household?

One party should own it, usually the family office or the family’s residential provider, with corporate security formally informed and a same-day rule for sharing anything unusual near the home.

Is intimidation a real security threat if no attack happens?

Yes. Intimidation works through physical presence and information gathering, it changes how a family lives and it can precede action. Signs of being watched should be recorded, assessed, shared and answered proportionately.

What do recommended HNW security teams do when corporate security is involved?

They build one threat picture with the corporate team, agree and rehearse handoffs, share information appropriately, cover the parts of family life the company does not and plan for the end of corporate protection.

Closing the seam between company and family

The reports from Norway and Sweden this week describe companies taking threats to their executives seriously and, rightly, saying little about how. They also describe a threat that intelligence sources say is aimed largely at fear, and an incident, recalled from August, that took place near a chief executive’s home rather than his office.

For any family whose principal has corporate protection, the lesson is practical. The company protects the role. The family office has to protect the family. Family office high net worth individuals security works when the two programs share one threat picture, agree their handoffs, and leave nothing in between: not the spouse’s routine, not the children’s weekend, not the gate at night, not the day the executive leaves the company.

For the wider program, including the family office trust chain, travel and residential security, read our complete 2026 overview of high net worth security. If you would like help mapping the seam between your corporate and family protection, you can contact us for a confidential conversation.

Sources

About Michael Braun

Michael Braun is a former Special Unit Operator, former Manager at Gavin de Becker & Associates, and Founder & CEO of MSB Protection, an executive protection and residential security firm serving high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients.

Braun has built his career at the intersection of specialized protective operations, executive protection, residential security, protective intelligence, and security risk management. His experience spans special-unit operations, leadership within Gavin de Becker & Associates, and the development and oversight of private protection programs within demanding UHNW environments.

He has been recognized by The Top 100 Magazine as a leading CEO in the private security field and is the subject of an upcoming Marquis Who’s Who feature highlighting his leadership and contributions to the profession.

Today, Braun is recognized for his work in executive protection, UHNW estate security, residential protection, protective intelligence, adversarial security assessments, and security auditing throughout Beverly Hills and Southern California.

His work focuses on moving private security beyond simply “providing a body” and toward intelligence-led, risk-based protection programs designed to identify vulnerabilities before an adversary can exploit them.

Looking for Executive Protection or Residential Security Services?

If you are a high-net-worth or ultra-high-net-worth individual, family office, estate manager, chief of staff, or executive in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, Malibu or Southern California, MSB Protection provides executive protection, residential security, 24/7 protection, protective intelligence, medical-readiness planning, and security risk management.

We evaluate the complete security environment, from threat exposure and residential vulnerabilities to personnel, technology, procedures, protective intelligence, and emergency response, and build a program around the risks that actually exist.

Contact us for a confidential consultation or message us at +1 (805) 285-2807.

Family Office High Net Worth Individuals Security Handoffs