Family Office Breach Response — Ransomware Incident

A European single Family Office managing substantial assets for a multi-generational industrial dynasty contacted Intarmour following discovery of a ransomware attack. The office managed Private Equityinvestments, commercial real estate, operating businesses, and liquid assets across multiple European jurisdictions, with a small team supplemented by external advisors.

The attack was identified when critical systems became inaccessible. A sophisticated ransomware variant had been deployed via compromised credentials of a former employee whose access had not been fully revoked. The attacker conducted reconnaissance over several days before executing deployment during an unattended weekend. The family office had no incident response plan, no retained cybersecurity advisor, and limited visibility into the compromise.

Intarmour initiated immediate incident response, deploying containment to halt attack progression while preserving forensic evidence. Within six hours, all affected systems were isolated, network egress was controlled to sever C2 channels, and forensic imaging commenced in parallel.

The investigation identified the attack vector: compromised credentials of a former employee whose remote access remained active. The attacker had used VPN access, established persistence through a legitimate remote administration tool, and spent approximately four days staging the payload. While the attacker accessed file repositories containing personal data, network bandwidth constraints limited bulk exfiltration — a critical finding for the regulatory notification assessment.

Recovery was executed from clean backup repositories confirmed uncompromised through forensic analysis. Systems were restored by operational criticality: investment management and financial records first, then communications and administration. Each restored system was validated against forensic baselines before returning to production. The recovery environment was rebuilt on hardened infrastructure with enhanced access controls.

Regulatory notification was coordinated with specialist data protection counsel across both jurisdictions. Intarmour prepared the technical breach scope assessment. Notifications were submitted to both DPAs within 48 hours, well within the 72-hour GDPR requirement, supported by comprehensive documentation demonstrating investigation thoroughness and response adequacy.

Family communication was managed through a dedicated secure channel established in the first hours. Each member received individual briefings on personal implications and protective measures including credential rotation, enhanced financial monitoring, and temporary communication protocols. Media exposure risk was managed proactively with prepared statements.

Full operational recovery was achieved within 72 hours. All critical systems were restored with zero confirmed data loss. Investment management, financial records, and communications were operational within three days, enabling resumption of normal operations without material disruption.

Both GDPR notifications were completed with no enforcement action. The thoroughness of investigation, speed of notification, and comprehensiveness of remediation were cited positively in regulatory correspondence. No ransom payment was made.

Post-incident, Intarmour designed and deployed a comprehensive security programme: endpoint protection across all family office and family member devices, a formal incident response plan with ongoing retainer, and access management restructured with a joiner-mover-leaver process ensuring immediate credential revocation upon departure.

MFA was implemented across all systems. Network architecture was redesigned with segmentation between operational systems, personal data, and communications. All family members and staff completed tailored security awareness training covering threats specific to family offices and high-net-worth individuals.