Navigating Cyber and Physical Risks: Strategies for Work, Home and Travel
Unpredictability is today’s new normal. As cyber and physical risks become increasingly interconnected, individuals and businesses must adapt to a rapidly evolving threat landscape. Here, we explore strategies that can help anticipate and plan for these multifaceted risks.
Understanding evolving risk
Earlier this year, I spoke with a security and duty-of-care leader about why wealthy individuals are prime targets, and the growing risks they face at work, home and during travel. Three themes have emerged as 2025 has progressed:
• Global conflicts are increasingly impacting security and trade. • Cyber attacks, many fueled by AI, are exposing more personal information and digital footprints.
• Policy shifts and changing diplomatic relationships are prompting uncertainty among some international partners.
Heightened state of global security
With conflicts affecting dozens of countries, physical security
concerns have reached unprecedented levels. Warfare, escalating regional tensions, and blocked trade routes are contributing to a heightened state of alert. Economic and geopolitical shifts are causing global reverberations, and the cyber community is expecting retaliatory attacks.
The interconnected nature of cyber and physical risks
Cyber attacks, increasingly fueled by AI, are accelerating
sophisticated breaches that expose personal and sensitive
information. This not only enables targeted attacks, but can also increase the physical compromising of homes and individuals. Clients are asking critical questions: How do we rethink risk if employees or family members travel to or operate in areas experiencing unrest? And how do we mitigate the increasing amount of online information being leaked, including personal information and addresses?
Proactive strategies
• Execute and stress test emergency plans before incidents occur.
• Establish relationships with security, legal, PR and cyber risk mitigation providers.
• Reduce the public exposure and digital footprints of executives, board members and the company.
• Plan for emergencies before traveling: Identify who you will call for medical emergencies, natural disasters, or evacuations
• Reduce digital footprints and social media exposure: Understand your family’s full exposure, then work to reduce it.
• Implement cyber defenses and privacy tools daily (e.g., VPNs, privacy browsers, password managers), secure the home network, and address vulnerabilities.
Rick Barragan is the Managing Director,
Los Angeles Market Manager, for
J.P. Morgan Private Bank.
[email protected] | (310) 860-3658
privatebank.jpmorgan.com/los-angeles
Source: “Navigating cyber and physical risks: Strategies for work, home, and travel?” Ileana van der Linde, Head of Cyber Advisory J.P. Morgan Global Private Bank, Aug. 15, 2026
