SoylentNews

An Anonymous Coward writes:

From www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/a3460256.html

Rapidly becoming more important than even the 24/7 hairdresser, the social media manager and the "paleo genius" personal chef, top cyber-security consultants are the most in-demand for the super-rich, business tycoons and the A-list as they look to keep their embarrassing secrets, naked photos and diva-ish demands out of the hands of hackers.

After Beckileaks, those consultants might just be ramping up their rates because, for brand-reliant celebrities, the financial damage, reputational risk and sheer embarrassment of such revelations are one of the most serious threats to their careers.

[...] Benjamin Arnold, whose SORTED personal management firm acts as a fixer for London's super-rich, says "There's been a definite increase in concern about cyber-protection among high-net-worth [HNW] and celebrity clients, especially following hacking incidents such as the [Lawrence] iCloud hack which exposed — quite literally — a number of high-profile celebrities. We are all exposed to the same risk but high-profile or HNW individuals are at a much bigger threat, as the value of their assets make them more of a target."

His clients will pay "anything from £2,500 up to £15,000 for a security sweep" and another £5,000 for training, "putting in best practice for the family, just as you would for locking up the house". It's small cash for some celebs, who believe that a brutal data-hack could cost them their career.

[...] Consultants say one-off "cyber-hygiene" sessions, costing as much as £3,000, are increasingly popular: tech sleuths will comb through clients' smartphones, laptops, tablets, external hard drives and cloud accounts, set up two-factor authentication (where logging into, say, a Gmail or Twitter account involves filling in a unique code that's sent to a smartphone), work on complex passwords (and insist on clients using different ones for every account), set up encrypted email services and install cyber-security software onto their home and work networks.

Original Submission