98% of Executives Have Digital Footprints That Reveal Personal Residences

Nisos Launches Ascend Platform, Built on Years of Experience Delivering Modern Human Risk Management Solutions to the Global 1000

First Available Human Risk Module Focused on Executive Protection

ARLINGTON, Va., May 13, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Nisos, the human risk management company, today previewed initial findings from its upcoming executive protection research report, highlighting just how easy it is for cybercriminals and other bad actors to uncover the residential details of senior executives using only publicly accessible online information.

This research, which will be featured in a full report next month, underscores the growing prevalence of human risk threats, especially those aimed at top executives - and the increased awareness of the need for organizations to proactively understand and mitigate them at the highest levels.

The research, based on trends observed in Nisos engagements over the past 24 months, uncovered that:

• 98% of company executives had property addresses publicly linked to their name
• 92% had publicly viewable exterior images
• 88% had interior photos or floor plans available

Human risk is an evolving challenge, encompassing executive protection, employment fraud, third party, and insider threat risks posed by individuals both inside and outside of an organization. Human risk management is an approach to reducing those risks leveraging open source intelligence expertise, bridging the gap between digital threats and real-world action, and allowing organizations to effectively mitigate threats to people, assets, operations, and corporate reputation.

To help organizations address the security risks caused by threats such as these, Nisos today launched an updated portfolio of human risk management solutions, including its new SaaS (software-as-a-service), client-facing platform, Nisos Ascend™. Ascend provides customers with at-a-glance visibility on risk exposure and mitigation activities, and hands-on access to empower their teams with client-led risk assessments and continuous monitoring. Nisos' portfolio of solutions is built upon more than a decade of success solving human risk-based issues for some of the world's biggest companies.

"It takes humans to accurately understand and solve human risk problems. Our team operates as an extension of our clients' security, trust and safety, legal, and intelligence teams, bringing together decades of physical and digital intelligence experience to uncover the who, how, and why behind these growing threats. We give organizations what they need to protect and defend," said Ryan LaSalle, CEO of Nisos. "With the announcement of our updated portfolio and the Ascend platform, we are putting our well-honed tradecraft directly in our clients' hands."

Nisos Ascend: Powerful and Easy-to-Use
Nisos Ascend delivers dashboard-based visibility into all facets of a Nisos client relationship, enabling organizations to automate risk assessment, reduction, and threat monitoring. Ascend is paired with the company's white glove, analyst-driven human risk intelligence services to provide tailored solutions that meet organizations' unique risk profiles, maturity, and team needs.

The platform is secure by design, with multi-tenancy, multi-tiered role-based access controls, multi-factor authentication, and an admin-accessible log of user activity for audit and investigative purposes. Users can also access the service center - which includes a Nisos messaging center, direct access to a client success director, and a searchable report library.

Executive Protection Module
The first human risk module available in the Nisos Ascend platform is focused on helping to solve the growing issues around executive protection. The Ascend Executive Protection module incorporates top-level visibility and automated assessment, analysis, and recommendation tools, giving organizations customizable support for their investigations and remediation.

Understanding Human Risk Management
As Nisos' upcoming research will demonstrate, the combined impact of these human risk threats is too large to ignore. The changing workplace landscape, including the increase in remote work and the ubiquitousness of social media have created a convergence of physical and digital human risks. If left unchecked, these risks can lead to reputational damage, IP theft, financial loss, regulatory fines, and even physical harm to employees and their families.

"Modern human risk management encompasses so much more than just security awareness and training," added Lisa Plaggemier, Executive Director of the National Cybersecurity Alliance. "Human risk has become a cross-functional problem - one that needs to bring together observations and insights from both inside and outside the physical walls of the office. A holistic approach - combining security, legal, and HR stakeholders - is needed to effectively protect today's organizations." 

Human Risk Management Solutions
"Nisos has been a trusted partner to Cowbell Cyber for over three years, delivering high-quality intelligence and investigative support across some of our most complex challenges," said Matthieu Chan Tsin, SVP of Resiliency Services at Cowbell Cyber. "Their expertise in human risk, which stems from a team of exceptional former intelligence professionals, has significantly strengthened our ability to identify and mitigate threats. Nisos enables our advisors to better support policyholders and reduce overall risk exposure across our ecosystem."

The security and business risks that enterprises face are greater now than ever before. At their core, those threats are all human-driven risks. Human risk management solutions enable organizations to directly uncover and address challenges that pose threats to employees, assets, operations, and reputations. With Fortune 500 life sciences, healthcare, top social media platforms, insurance, collaboration platforms, investment firms, and media companies among its client roster, Nisos' human risk management solutions address the four main threats that make up modern human risk by:

• Reducing Executive Protection Risks - Executives and high-profile stakeholders are frequent targets of digital and physical threats. Adversaries often seek to exploit Personally Identifiable Information (PII) for fraud, doxxing, cyber-attacks, reputational damage, impersonation, harassment, and physical threats to executives and their families through social media, extremist forums, and the dark web. Digital exposure can include sources such as data leaks, social media information, and other digital footprints. Nisos monitors the internet, including deep and dark web sources, for emerging threats and exposed information linked to key personnel. This helps organizations identify threats early - and proactively manage digital exposure like the details of their home surfaced by our research above - ensuring leaders' safety.
  
  
• Minimizing the Risk of Employment Fraud - Applicants can misrepresent themselves using false credentials or identities to access sensitive data, work multiple jobs without permission, or disrupt operations. Fake identities can be created using AI and deepfake technology, and, when combined with common tactics, can be nearly impossible to uncover. Over the past few years there has been a mature, recurring campaign of employment fraud conducted by individuals from the DPRK (Republic of North Korea). Nisos' solutions help verify identities, scrutinize candidate backgrounds, and monitor employees for potential risk factors, reducing the likelihood of hiring individuals who might compromise security or act against company interests.
  
  
• Protecting Against Insider Threats - Security risks can come from within an organization, as well as from partners and contractors who have authorized access to networks, systems, and data. Because these are trusted individuals, the damage can be significant. Nisos helps detect, prevent, and respond to insider threats by monitoring employees, contractors, and partners for indicators of risk, enabling organizations to safeguard valuable assets and maintain organizational trust.
  
  
• Proactively Managing Third Party Intelligence - Partners, investors, clients, and other groups outside an organization with access to company data or systems could expose organizations to risk through unethical, illegal, or controversial behavior. These affiliations can introduce potential vulnerabilities and result in reputational damage, financial losses, legal liabilities, or operational impacts. Nisos incorporates thorough vetting and ongoing monitoring of third-party entities, assessing their security practices, affiliations, and risk profiles, thereby enabling organizations to build safer partnerships and reduce threat exposure.

For more information on Nisos' findings, and how Nisos human risk management solutions and Nisos Ascend can help your organization improve its recognition, understanding, and remediation of human risk-related threats, visit: https://nisos.com/solutions/human-risk/. To sign up to be one of the first to receive Nisos' forthcoming executive protection research report, click here.

About Nisos
Nisos is the human risk management company specializing in unmasking threats before they escalate. The company is a trusted advisor, operating as an extension of security, intelligence, legal, and human resource teams to protect their people and business. Nisos' intelligence-led solutions help enterprises make critical decisions, manage human risk, and drive real world consequences for digital threats. For more information, please visit: https://www.nisos.com.

Media Contact:
Jennifer Balinski
Guyer Group for Nisos
nisos@guyergroup.com 

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SOURCE Nisos