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The cybersecurity vendor maze

What family offices need to know

8 min read

Family offices operate across both institutional and personal realms, creating an unusually broad attack surface. Cybersecurity is not a onetime product or service of any one vendor; it is an ongoing program. Understanding the distinctions among cybersecurity vendors is a critical first step in building a coherent program.

By their nature, family offices face heightened cybersecurity risk. A single weak link—such as a staff member deceived by a social-engineering email, an outdated router in a residence, a misconfigured Microsoft tenant, or the absence of endpoint detection and response—can provide a foothold for compromise.

Cybersecurity is not a onetime purchase or a checklist to complete, nor is it the product or service of any one vendor; it is an ongoing program. Tools matter only insofar as they address defined risks and operate within a cohesive framework. “Mostly covered” is insufficient if the breach enters through what remains uncovered.

Most family offices assume their IT team or managed service provider handles cybersecurity. These roles are essential—they maintain systems, patch devices, and manage the technology stack—but they are not positioned to view risk from above. When cyber risk lives entirely within IT, the office loses an independent view: the strategic perspective that connects technology with governance, insurance, and exposure across both the institutional and personal spheres—and any grey areas unique to family offices.

What works in practice is orchestration: a program that coordinates multiple providers and platforms—guided by policy, procedures, education and governance—so that controls reinforce one another and weak links are systematically closed.

Yet the marketplace is crowded with cybersecurity vendors, each claiming to be the solution. The challenge for family offices is to separate what each type of provider actually does from what they only appear to do. Understanding these distinctions is the first step toward building a coherent program—one in which each partner plays a defined role within a unified strategy.

Understanding the vendor landscape

Each section below explains when to engage a provider and defines the typical scope of their services, as well as the owners responsible for keeping the program coherent.

Note: The examples below are illustrative, not endorsements. UBS-FS is not affiliated with the third-party service providers (“Providers”) listed in this document. Inclusion of a Provider listed is not a recommendation to engage that Provider, nor is it a business referral of that Provider. In the event a Provider may have a contractual relationship with UBS, such relationship would be entirely separate from and completely unrelated to its inclusion in this list. UBS-FS ( including its officers, directors, employees, agents and affiliates) is not responsible for any loss or damage arising out of the use of any of the Providers.

Cybersecurity integrators and specialists

Primary role: Provide strategy and orchestration. These firms conduct risk assessments, design the program, establish policies and governance, and coordinate other vendors—often in a virtual Chief Information Security Officer (vCISO) capacity.
When to engage: At the outset or during inflection points (e.g., leadership changes, insurance renewal, post-incident remediation) when you need a coherent plan, clear accountability, and coordination spanning both office and family environments.
What they do not cover: Help desk services, routine IT operations.
Who is responsible? Family office executives and the board select the integrator, set objectives, and hold the firm accountable for results.
Sample industry providers:Kroll, Annapurna Cybersecurity Advisors, Plante Moran Family Office Services.

IT operations (internal IT or managed service provider)

Primary role: Operate the environment, including endpoints, patching, networks, backups, and the core security stack.
When to engage: Continuously, to deliver reliable daily operations and to implement the program designed by the vCISO.
What they do not cover: Enterprise governance, policy oversight, comprehensive personal/family risk or insurance alignment.
Who is responsible? Executives approve the provider and service levels and the vCISO establishes direction and standards.
Sample industry providers (MSPs):Omega Systems, Thrive, Pro4ia. (For insourced models, this is your internal IT team.)

Family cybersecurity and device protection

Primary role: Extend controls to principals and family, including personal devices, home-network scanning, and identity/online footprint monitoring and data-broker deletion.
When to engage: When corporate IT does not cover residential environments or personal devices, but your risk profile requires it.
What they do not cover: Corporate IT operations, enterprise governance, or routine updating of residential infrastructure (e.g., router or IoT firmware).
Who is responsible? The vCISO defines scope and standards, IT Operations coordinates where corporate and personal environments intersect, and executives authorize coverage for principals and households.
Sample industry providers:BlackCloak, Cyber Wolf, CyberWa.

Data broker and privacy monitoring services

Primary role: Reduce exposure by removing or suppressing personal data from data brokers; monitor for reappearance and doxxing risks.
When to engage: When principals seek lower personal exposure and reduced physical/reputational risk.
What they do not cover: Endpoint or network security and legal privacy counsel.
Who is responsible? The vCISO sets scope and tracks outcomes; principals or their delegates in the family office approve removals.
Sample industry providers:360 Privacy, Hush, Incogni.

Technology platforms and tools

Primary role: Provide technical controls—the platform and tool layer. Examples include endpoint protection (EDR/XDR); identity and access management (IAM); password managers, email and web filtering (including DNS); secure remote access (VPN or secure web gateway); mobile device management (MDM); and backup and recovery systems.
When to engage: When building or modernizing the control stack to be operated by IT Operations under program guidance.
What they do not cover: Strategy, governance and outcome accountability—tools requiring design, tuning and oversight.
Who is responsible? The vCISO selects and architects the stack based on risk, and IT Operations deploys, configures and operates the platforms day-to-day.
Sample industry providers: Huntress, 1Password, Cisco Umbrella, NordVPN.

Education

Primary role: Reduce human-factor risk through training and simulation (phishing, social engineering and secure behaviors).
When to engage: Continuously, with focus on executives, assistants and high-risk roles.
What they do not cover: A substitute for technical controls or governance.
Who is responsible? The vCISO designs the curriculum and policy requirements; IT Operations administers the training platform; and HR manages enrollment, tracking, and employee compliance.
Sample industry providers:KnowBe4, NINJIO, Phished.

Incident response

Primary role: Contain, investigate and remediate breaches; conduct digital forensics and coordinate recovery.
When to engage: During an active incident, via the insurer’s approved panel under policy terms.
What they do not cover: Ongoing program design or day-to-day IT operations.
Who is responsible? The cybersecurity insurance carrier maintains the approved panel in consultation with the broker. The vCISO coordinates the internal effort.
Sample industry providers:Cisco Talos, Mandiant, CrowdStrike.

Cyber Insurance

Primary role: Transfer residual risk; fund incident response, forensics and recovery.
When to engage: Proactively, to align coverage with your control environment and vendor panel.
What they do not cover: Preventive security or program leadership.
Who is responsible? The insurer maintains the approved incident response panel and the vCISO coordinates the internal response effort.
Sample industry brokers:BCU Risk, Risk Strategies, Lockton.

Family office leadership and governance

Primary role: Set risk appetite and priorities; approve policy and budget; select key vendors; assign ownership; and hold both vendors and employees accountable.
When to engage: Always—at program kickoff, during quarterly reviews for exceptions, and when escalating incidents or resolving cross-vendor issues.
What the family office does not take on: Hands-on technical implementations or live incident triage; execution resides with operating teams.

Businessman working with tablet at night

Tony Gebely
CEO
Annapurna Cybersecurity Advisors, LLC.

Mostly covered” is insufficient if the breach enters through what remains uncovered.

Where to begin

A practical sequence can turn a crowded market into a workable program. Key steps include:

1. Appoint a program owner (integrator/vCISO):

Begin with a comprehensive risk assessment to identify weak links and prioritize action. Update policy, define governance and evidence requirements, assign owners, and establish coordination across providers.

2. Leverage the IT you already have:

Direct your internal team or managed service provider (MSP) to:

a. Implement and run the stack—endpoints, patching, networks, backup and restore testing, and monitoring.

b. Operate the technical platforms and training.

The objective is alignment and uplift, not replacement, unless the assessment reveals capability gaps.

3. Transfer residual risk with cyber insurance:

Work with a broker experienced in family-office contexts to cover both the organization (commercial) and family members (personal). Align controls and evidence with policy terms, confirm the approved incident-response panel (including counsel and crisis communications), and document clear activation steps.

4. Layer in targeted providers where risk lives: Based on the assessment and risk appetite, add:

a. Family: Cyber and device protection for residences and personal devices.

b. Data: Broker/privacy monitoring to reduce external exposure.

c. Specialized services: For high-exposure scenarios (e.g., penetration testing).

Throughout vendor evaluations, use these categories as your framework. For each pitch, ask where the provider fits, what they will—and will not—cover, and who will own outcomes. This approach reveals overlaps and gaps, and avoids the false promise that any single vendor can “do cybersecurity” for a family office.

Revisit the vendor landscape at budgeting, renewal, and onboarding moments to keep scope and accountability explicit. Over time, this disciplined approach yields a durable program: the right roles doing the right work, with additions driven by demonstrable risk rather than market noise.

Tony Gebely

Tony is the founder and CEO of Annapurna Cybersecurity, an advisory firm that helps successful families and family offices build durable cybersecurity programs. Prior to founding Annapurna, Tony spent more than a decade in technology leadership at Family Office Exchange—including as Chief Technology Officer—where he served as a subject-matter expert to the firm’s global membership, advising families, publishing on best practices, leading the first Global Family Security Workshop, and launching the Technology Operations & Data Security Network for 300+ executives.

Over time, this disciplined approach yields a durable program: the right roles doing the right work, with additions driven by demonstrable risk rather than market noise.

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