Coeur d'Alene-based cybersecurity governance company HardTarget Inc. launched 15 months ago to prepare affluent families against the threat of cybercrime through gamified learning activities. 

Entrepreneur Bill Roth says he co-founded the company with wealth and privacy expert Anwar Visram to address a gap in the market for an effective and engaging approach to cybersecurity for ultra high net-worth individuals, family offices, and wealth management companies to learn how to better protect their assets.

HardTarget takes the serious threat of cybercrime and gamifies its approach to cybersecurity to achieve behavioral and lifestyle changes among its wealthy clients, he says.

"You can't just be reactive, and that's a big part of what we're trying to do with our business," says Roth, CEO of HardTarget.

Cybercrime has evolved into a continuous and pervasive threat, Roth says.

Just over 40% of family offices—a term used to describe financial management structures for ultra wealthy families—have experienced a cyberattack in the last 24 months, with a quarter of them having experienced three or more attacks, according to a cybersecurity report by professional services company Deloitte.

"We're pushing half of family offices being targeted because they're that low-hanging fruit," says Roth. "They're soft, easy marks, and they have access to the capital."

The financial impact of a cyberattack can be significant, as cybercriminals that target U.S. digital systems produced $12.5 billion in financial losses in 2023, according to FBI crime data. 

HardTarget's Footprint services are designed to provide three tiers of stand-alone data reporting, monitoring, and removal of personally identifiable information from the internet, which is a major contributor to identity theft and financial fraud, says Roth. 

Footprint services range in price from $500 to $7,500 per year, depending on the service tier, according to the company's website.

The company also provides Mindset training services that involve quarterly training events that teach clients how to adopt behavioral and lifestyle changes through a gamified approach. 

Social engineering, or the digital manipulation of people, has been a successful strategy for criminals compared to exploiting technological vulnerabilities, Roth explains, adding that the tactics are becoming more sophisticated.

As an example, during the holiday season, Roth says a fake Amazon delivery text was sent with a link to communicate with a delivery driver who is having trouble finding the delivery address. The scenario creates an incentive for someone to click the link to avoid a missed delivery. After the link is clicked, spyware or malware likely has infected the device, which is often not discovered immediately, resulting in criminal access to personal, sensitive, and financial information.

HardTarget's Mindset training uses war games to encourage a hands-on and engaging learning experience that helps families absorb information better than traditional training methods that can feel like homework, he says.

War game simulations involve working through various cyber threats and scenarios tailored to ultra high net-worth individuals and families. The games simulate real-world scenarios to help families recognize and respond to digital manipulation and social engineering. The war games also foster open communication, which improves safety and security while also strengthening family relationships, says Roth.

Roth describes HardTarget's war games as a game similar in concept to Monopoly.

"Through a board game, we're learning how real estate transactions can create wealth," Roth says of Monopoly. "In much the same way, we are developing this mental model for how to live your digital life."

With the gamified approach to cybersecurity, families can experience a variety of possible consequences to seemingly insignificant choices they make throughout their day.

Unlike Monopoly, however, Roth notes that HardTarget's strategy doesn't pit family members against each other, but instead unites the family against broader threats.

"When we talk about a hard target ... that's the mindset we want them to adopt," he says.

The company is currently working on refreshing its war games simulations, an endeavor that's expected to be completed this spring.

HardTarget's governance services help families create a set of formal policies, rules, and protocols to help manage their digital lives and online behavior to become less attractive targets to criminals.

HardTarget also offers a family office suite of services, which are enterprise-level services for wealth managers and family offices focused on cyber governance. 

Additionally, the company hosts private events, retreats, and online refresher workshops for clients.

HardTarget is working with Spokane-based cybersecurity training platform Drip7 Inc. to provide digital refresher workshops that are designed to reinforce the concepts and practices learned through war gaming.

The company currently is moving toward a membership-based business model to include all services, rather than offering services a la carte, says Roth. The new approach is expected to ensure that clients aren't leaving any vulnerabilities in their security posture.

"You kind of buy in or you don't," Roth says. "If you want us to make you a hard target but you want to leave back doors open, we know that's not on brand and it's not smart for us to promise you that you're any kind of a hard target."

HardTarget is self-funded with profits rolling back into the business. The company has experienced a hockey stick growth curve since it was established in 2023, Roth says, adding that HardTarget has reached profitability in January. 

"We're considering a pre-seed round, but I'm not actively pursuing it because there's so much business coming in and work to be done," Roth says. "Perhaps down the road we would consider a strategic relationship."

The company name HardTarget stems from what historically has been a military term referring to protected and unprotected targets. The term's use gained popularity in the travel industry in the 1950s and '60s following many Americans who traveled abroad and were considered soft targets for criminals, explains Roth.

The term has since been adopted by the cybersecurity industry, he says.

"It was surprising to me that nobody built a brand around it," Roth says. "Every once in a while, you get that opportunity in business to take an idea that already has resonance and turn it into something special."

The company has six full-time employees and is currently hiring, he says.

HardTarget serves clients in the U.S., Canada, and Europe from an office in Coeur d'Alene, but Roth declines to disclose a specific address due to the secure nature of the company's work. 

Moving forward, HardTarget is planning to advance another program, dubbed HardTarget Alliance, to help address the root cause of cybercrime, which is cyber slavery and human trafficking, he says.

"Folks are being tricked into thinking they're taking a job ... their visas are taken and they're literally put behind 20-foot cinder block walls to become scammers on the other end of our phones," says Roth.

HardTarget plans to build awareness about the connection between cybercrime and human trafficking and provide funding to non-governmental organizations that it will partner with that are already working to extract people from captivity.

"People that have resources can move the needle on these things globally, then ... we have a fighting chance," Roth says.

Additionally, HardTarget plans to expand its services to benefit all income levels, not just the ultra high net-worth individuals and families.

"This new approach to living is a requirement going forward as the world runs headlong into AI and quantum computing. People have no idea what's around the corner," Roth says.