Category: Blog

An affordable and prefabricated solution created for new buildings and also for a retrofit installation in existing rooms in houses and apartments.

FAMILY OFFICE ELITE spoke with Sven Leidel, an expert for HNWI/UHNWI Risk Mitigation & Protection Strategies located in Hamburg, Germany.

FOE:
Mr. Leidel, although this is already your second interview with our magazine, please tell us again about your professional security background and introduce yourself to our readers!

LEIDEL:
I was born in 1968 in Hamburg, Germany and I am a German citizen. As a former member of the German military police, I have been dealing with the topic of protection and security since 1988. Today I am involved, as an honorary member, in various national and international security and professional associations in advisory and executive functions. I am a professional lecturer and trainer, facilitator and specialist author, security consultant and expert in the field of protection strategies for exposed individuals. I have gained extensive expertise from more than 25 years of industry and professional experience and I have operated in numerous foreign assignments and projects in Europe, North America, Latin America as well as parts of Asia. My longtime customers include many major national and international corporations and insurance companies as well as small and medium-sized enterprises, exposed private individuals, family offices and family foundations as well as entrepreneurial families and high net worth individuals. Last but not least, I am an author and editor of two books in respect of Travel Risk Management; see www.travel-security-handbook.com (English) and www.handbuch-reisesicherheit.de (German).

FOE: 
Your company provides Risk Mitigation & Protection Concepts for HNWI´s / UHNWI´s. Why do you call your “physical shelter concept” a SAFE ROOM and not a PANIC ROOM.

LEIDEL:
We have chosen SAFE ROOM for three reasons: (1) We feel, that SAFE ROOM meets the purpose and security aspect much better, plus the word “panic” sounds too negative in our point of view, (2) our exclusive technology and construction partner “Turtle Saferooms” is using the wording SAFE ROOM also in the company name and (3) the naming PANIC ROOM is often associated with the same name movie.

FOE:
That´s right, when I hear PANIC ROOM I am thinking automatically about Jodie Foster in the Hollywood movie “Panic Room”.

LEIDEL:
Most people do! At the end you can use both conceptualities; there is no right or wrong. We have decided, we do not want to sell a “Hollywood Horror Experience or Feeling” to our clientele, that´s why we use SAFE ROOM. What you see in the movie “Panic Room” is more of a bunker with thick steel, massive concrete walls and a high end technical solution (i.e. self-sufficient air conditioning, oxygen and power supply). Most of the time, the reality with private clientele and their SAFE ROOM solutions looks quite differently.

FOE:
What makes your concept so different?

LEIDEL:
We offer a proven “room-in-room retrofit installation solution” as well as a professional architectural solution for new buildings. With the know-how and experience of our technology partner, we are able to plan a SAFE ROOM already in the construction phase or use existing rooms in the house or apartment also as a SAFE ROOM. For example, you can rebuild and use an existing dressing room, that is close to the master bed room, as a SAFE ROOM. Optically the purpose of the room stays the same: A simple dressing room with all of your cloths. But if necessary, you can close the door(s) of the dressing room and it protects you against intruders, kidnappers, criminals a.s.o.. The beauty is, you can still use the dressing room in your day-to-day-routine for the purpose the room was originally planned and built. This concept gives us the opportunity to be efficient and costs effective, but it still meets the need for an individual and customized security and protection level; in our point of view the best possible price-performance-ratio.

FOE:
Your solution is not a bunker that protects against the next bomb or terror attack, right?

LEIDEL:
By far not … our standard SAFE ROOMS are not designed to withstand and resist a bomb attack or a siege for many hours or days by trained and heavily armed terrorists. In order to be also on the safe side in respect of those threats, clients then must invest hundreds of thousands of EURO/GBP/US$. Anyway, upon request we can also assist with those demands; it is all a question of money and availability. Generally speaking, it is our understanding, unless you are in a witness protection program or you have received massive threats from mafia or organized crime groups as well as from political, religious or otherwise motivated radical groups, you do not need a massive bunker or high end solution. The vast majority of our exclusive clientele is looking more for a lean solution with a good price-performance-ratio. Having this said, our SAFE ROOM solutions start at a little under EURO 10,000 for the very minimum version and solution.

FOE:
What is your solution protecting from?

LEIDEL:
Our SAFE ROOMS are protecting from violent intruders and criminals, as well as from kidnappers, stalkers or violent ex-life partners. The purpose of a SAFE ROOM is, to provide a safe retreat and to protect the home owners from physical harm until the police, law enforcement or the contracted security company has arrived. If you can trust the statistics, this means that a SAFE ROOM needs to withstand and resists the penetration effort and attempt from criminals for app. 15 – 20 minutes. In the meantime, help should have been arrived at your house in most cases.

FOE:
Who is a typical SAFE ROOM client?

LEIDEL:
If you are talking about the age of our clients, this goes by all ages. It could be the retired wealthy couple, which does not feel comfortable anymore to use physical defenses in case of an intrusion by violent criminals. It could also be the HNWI family, where the husband has to travel a lot for business and the rest of the family members are alone at home a lot. In addition, it can also be the successful mid age business couple, which wants to add another level of security while they are at home. So bottom line, you see that there is no typical clientele by age. It is more a question of the willingness to reach the next security level (on top of an existing CCTV and alarm system) or even the ability of the financial investment in the next security level.

FOE:
Does your SAFE ROOM concept also protect against bullets from handguns, rifles and automatic weapons?

LEIDEL:
Our standard solutions protect against 9mm, Magnum .44 and up to Kalashnikov 7.62. Nevertheless, if a client needs an extra level of protection, we can also secure the SAFE ROOM against higher and stronger calibers. Again, it is just a question of money and availability. To be honest, it is our experience that the resistance class 7.62 is sufficient in most cases. There is really no need to spend more money on higher resistance classes, if there is no real known threat need. At the end, the client will get what he or she is asking for.

FOE:
Are there any technical limitations or requirements from your end?

LEIDEL:
Not really, beside the fact that our collaboration partner Turtle Saferooms needs a minimum of two bearing walls in order to build in the room-in-room-solution. Other than that there are no real technical limitations or requirements from our end.

FOE:
Some interested persons might think: “We do not want all the conversion and construction dirt in the house (for several days)!”. How do you respond to this statement?

LEIDEL:
I totally understand, that most clients would like to avoid any disorders, inconveniences and impairments at their homes for days, like you experience when you i.e. convert your bathroom. In our case the whole process is very simple, fast and “pretty clean”. After assessing the threat and risk level and deciding which resistance class is reasonable for the SAFE ROOM, our technical experts will measure the room and create a 3D model with a special software program on the computer. All necessary materials and walls will be manufactured at the production site in Bremen. When all preliminary work is done, the technical experts will schedule a date with the client in order to build in the individual and prefabricated parts. Therefore, the team will arrive in the morning, build in all parts and leave already in the evening.

FOE:
Don´t you hope that the “Day X” will never come, where the clients have to use the SAFE ROOM?

LEIDEL:
Of course I do! But even if the client never has to use the SAFE ROOM, it is my experience that having a SAFE ROOM in the house creates kind of a peace of mind for the client and the whole family.

FOE:
Mr. Leidel, thank you very much for your time and the interview.

OSRINT – Open Source Risk Intelligence

Do you know, what kind of private information are available in public sources about you and your family members, which could be of a risk and used by criminals?

FAMILY OFFICE ELITE spoke with Sven Leidel, an expert for HNWI/UHNWI Risk Mitigation & Protection Strategies located in Hamburg, Germany.

FOE:
Mr. Leidel, please tell us about your professional security background and introduce yourself to our readers!

LEIDEL:
I was born in 1968 in Hamburg, Germany and I am a German citizen. As a former member of the German military police, I have been dealing with the topic of protection and security since 1988. Today I am involved, as an honorary member, in various national and international security and professional associations in advisory and executive functions. I am a professional lecturer and trainer, facilitator and specialist author, security consultant and expert in the field of protection strategies for exposed individuals. I have gained extensive expertise from more than 25 years of industry and professional experience and I have operated in numerous foreign assignments and projects in Europe, North America, Latin America as well as parts of Asia. My longtime customers include many major national and international corporations and insurance companies as well as small and medium-sized enterprises, exposed private individuals, family offices and family foundations as well as entrepreneurial families and high net worth individuals. Last but not least, I am an author and editor of two books in respect of Travel Risk Management; see www.travel-security-handbook.com (English) and www.handbuch-reisesicherheit.de (German).

FOE:
What is OSRINT?

Leidel:
OSRINT stands for Open Source Risk Intelligence. It is probably the most innovative way of identifying risks and critical content in respect of a specific target (person or company) in public sources. In order to be efficient in the most possible way, the internet search is done and supported by a 24/7 operating crawler technology. This advanced monitoring technology helps to identify and track personal data online in open sources, that might also be useful for criminals. In addition, experienced risk analysts work as ‘human filters’ to identify threats and sensitive details in public sources on a 24/7 basis. Another part of OSRINT is the removal of critical data from the internet and other online sources, or if a removal is not possible, the displace of such content. Especially in today’s world where media and online outlets can ruin a reputation in a matter of minutes, it is important to always be one step ahead and have the latest monitoring technology in place.

FOE:
Please tell us about a typical client case!

Leidel:
A family office is reaching out to us, asking for a confidential face-to-face meeting with one of their exclusive FO clients. The client asks us to find out, what kind of private and critical details are available in public sources about himself and his family members. All we get from him is his first and his family name; nothing else. Now it is our job to try to find out as much as possible about the target; pretty much the same way criminals would start in order to identify possible victims.

In one specific case, the HNWI did mention that he has already maintained a “low profile” for many years and he was sure that we should not be able find any pictures from him, no names and no pictures of his family members and maybe just a handful of companies that he is involved in. He did not even tell us how many children he has, nor any details in respect of his residence home and vacation real estates he might own. We agreed on 5 days of actual intense open source search from our end. Pretty quickly after starting the research, we found many critical details and put all the findings in a 45 pages’ written report. We ended up finding 27 pictures from himself, names and pictures of all his children and his wife, private addresses (residential and vacation), as well as 43 companies he and his relatives are currently involved in or he and his relatives were involved in in the past. You can imagine that the surprise was huge, when we presented the findings in a personal meeting. During the meeting we did receive the up order to conduct security audits at the residential and vacation houses in order to optimize the physical and electronical security measures and to assist in deleting critical details and information from public sources (internet). Since then, we are also monitoring the internet 24/7 with the latest crawler technology in order to make sure, that we identify critical details and content in the internet around the clock and automatically. This gives us the opportunity to react quickly and in a timely manner as soon as we (the crawler) have identified new critical content. Just recently we found out that his children did establish almost a handful new companies without consulting with their parents in the first place. Within the company registration process, the children made a mistake and used one of the family’s private address, which is absolutely not acceptable, because this is a weak point within the whole personal risk mitigation concept and strategy.

FOE:
Can you really delete all data from the internet?

Leidel:
Of course not! Some data and content can be deleted from the internet or from specific homepages and probably the majority cannot.

For example, a solution could be … in connection with a reputation management strategy, those data and content that is in the internet and cannot be deleted, you can try to displace this content on the internet by a so called “positive story telling technique”. This means that you create positive and non-critical content for a specific target (person or company) and strategically place it in the internet on existing homepages / platforms or you create your own new blogs and webpages. On those platforms where you have total control over the content, you can pretty much publish all kind of true or false/fake details that you want or that you need for your protection strategy. That way you create “helpful content” in order to be positively rated by Google, Bing & Co. Having this said, this means that your own non-critical content will show up within the search results on the first couple of pages at the search engines. Unwanted content and details will be pushed back on the pages 5, 6 or even further back. It is our experience that most criminals just take a look at the findings on the pages 1 – 4.

In addition, you can track the traffic on your own blogs and webpages; we call this “The Honey Pot Concept”. Which gives you a good first idea, who is looking for your client, what kind of keywords are used for the search, what is the main interest, where is the person located, a.s.o..

FOE:
What is a Honey Pot Concept?

Leidel:
Honey Pots are mainly used by IT security professionals in order to find out if hackers are interested in a certain IT landscape, where are they coming from, what kind of search and keywords are used, what kind of technology is used by the third party a.s.o..

Our Honey Pots are kind of modern traps. Like I already mentioned, we create blogs and homepages with a “specific real-fake content”, so people that are searching for a specific target (person or company) will get the search results within the search engine they use. As soon as they click on the search result, we are able to track their homepage visit and also their clicks and activities on the Honey Pot blog and homepage. We are able to see the country and city they are coming from, which online network they are using, how long they stay on the homepage, which additional content they have looked at and much more useful details. This is a risk indicator for us, that somebody is interested on specific information about a target. The information of interest could be the private address of the target, private activities / hobbies of the target and other critical details. In addition, you can spread false and fake details about a target, in order to blur the online traces and to make it more difficult for criminals to find real details and information in open sources. This is a very useful and effective protection concept.

FOE:
Why is it so important to know what kind of Details are available in the Internet?

Leidel:
It is our experience that criminals also look first in the internet and try to find out as much as possible useful details about possible targets and victims. The more useful details they find and the easier it is to get access to those details, the more likely it is, that criminals will pick a so called “soft target” for their criminal activities (kidnapping, burglary, blackmailing, threatening …).

The goal of a comprehensive personal risk management is to become a “hard target”, in order to be unattractive and not of interest for criminals.

You can compare this with the following:

You do not have to install a tons of physical and technical security at your house, like they use at “Fort Knox”. Your house just needs to be more secured than the neighbor’s house. Criminals are looking for quick and easy wins, with hardly no risks of failure.

FOE: Thank you very much for the interview.