Companies are pouring millions into security as threats against executives increase

The horrific New York City murder of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare Brian Thompson In December 2024, it was successively followed by a shooting incident in midtown Manhattan in July, which claimed the lives of two security guards and two Executives in Blackstone And Rodin management. Last month, a gunman allegedly shot and killed right-wing speaker Charlie Kirk during an event at a university in Utah. Waterfall impact These events have led to a tangible shift in companies’ security postures, with an avalanche of new independent threat assessments and protective measures.

Companies are putting in extra layers of home security, personal security, and cybersecurity protection for CEOs, senior executives, and board members. Goldman Sachs Ayco, the bank’s financial planning and wealth management subsidiary, found that the most common personal security measures are having at least one bodyguard when an executive travels on business or in a public engagement with a controversial figure in attendance or other unusual risks, and an armed driver for transportation and travel. Mandatory private jet travel has long been popular among top executives, and companies also tend to fly first-class executive teams, the survey of compensation professionals from 291 public and private companies found.

“Companies want to make sure their executives are safe,” said Jonathan Barber, head of corporate and benefits at Goldman Sachs Eco. luck. “We are seeing that decline in some cases this year as some of these benefits have surpassed early 2000s levels.”

Strategy, formerly known as MicroStrategy, this month raised the annual cap on its CEO Michael Saylor’s security program to $2 million from $1.4 million, the company said. He said Investors. Chipotle He said Investors this year said it provided CEO Scott Boatwright’s personal security at the end of 2024 and early 2025 “as a precautionary measure, in response to the highly publicized murder of a public company executive and general threatening public rhetoric,” Chipotle’s board wrote in its most recent proxy report to shareholders. Sales force Maintained CEO Marc Benioff’s security and aircraft benefits are capped at $4.6 million for fiscal 2025 and 2026 to keep expenses level. Benioff covers costs above that amount, the company said.

Goldman’s 2025 survey, which surveys 291 companies and is conducted every two years, found that 27% of respondents now provide personal security to their CEOs, representing a 59% increase in the share providing the benefit from two years ago. Cybersecurity protections have more than tripled across all executive levels since 2021, from 10% to more than 30% for CEOs. The survey saw an acceleration in these protections – which are technically perks – with 24% of respondents indicating that new benefits had been added in the past 24 months, triple the 20-year average of 8%.

Personal security, added by 10% of respondents, was the second most cited consideration for future additions. More than half of the companies surveyed cited security as the main reason behind providing personal use of corporate aircraft and chauffeur services. Barber described this shift as a significant reversal from the cost-cutting approach that has dominated executive benefits and perks since the early 2000s and the 2008 financial crisis. Those periods were followed by regulatory changes that fueled more specific disclosures of safeguards and pay by companies, and the emergence of shareholders who say they have the right to vote on corporate executive programs. That combination has led to what Barber said is the highest rate of revocations of security privileges, but 2025 levels mark the beginning of the decade, he said. Security is also a palatable condition for shareholders, he added.

“Security is easy, it’s clearly a safety issue,” Barber said.

In the two months after Thompson’s death at the hands of accused shooter Luigi Mangione, security company Allied Universal’s embedded security business — round-the-clock protection for executives by armed guards — grew by 30%, said Glenn Kucera, president of enhanced security services. Meanwhile, Kucera said custom security measures when an executive travels have increased by 300%. luck.

“The world of executive protection changed on December 4th,” Kucera said, citing the date of Thompson’s alleged assassination by Mangione. In the following weeks, stacks of cards were circulated with CEOs and other executives on social media, adding to the threatening climate as well as the public reception of Magnione as a quasi-vigilante, Kucera said.

Technology companies reported the highest levels of threat in 2025, according to a World Security report released in September a report From Allied Universal, based on a survey of 620 senior security officers. About 66% of technology companies reported increased threats of violence toward executives compared to a 46% U.S. average among all companies. These companies face a more severe threat landscape due to the high-profile nature of the companies and because they are known to be highly profitable, Kucera said. In addition, social media platforms are “a lifeline for a lot of people,” and deplatforming or other actions create strong hostility that can lead to further incitement, he said.

According to findings from Allied, technology companies are tied with pharmaceutical companies in providing executive protection at 40%, while 31% also provide protection for CEOs’ families. Nearly 90% of chief security officers at technology companies say their companies have been targeted by disinformation or disinformation campaigns, and 63% said misinformation affected more than half of the threats directed at companies.

The difference now compared to years past is not just the scale, but the sophistication of the upcoming threats to companies and executives, said Matt Dompert, a managing director who leads Kroll’s enterprise security risk practice. AI has made it easier for customers, disgruntled employees, and those who want to harm target companies and spread potentially dangerous information about location, activities, and personal information.

“The tools to gather basic information, create targeting profiles against executives, learn about their habits, where their families hang out — all of these things are readily available to adversaries,” Dembert said. “What used to require sophistication can now happen very quickly and in a very automated way.”

According to Kucera, the new playbook includes home security assessments, armored drivers and vehicles, trained explosive detection dogs, and advanced cyber protection measures.

“Each one of these events feeds the awareness that this can happen anywhere,” Kucera said.