The Gatekeeper Gap: How Your Staff Increases Your Exposure

Executives rarely get targeted directly.

The approach comes through the assistant.

Why? Because the assistant is often:

• The calendar holder

• The email filter

• The gatekeeper of logistics

• The most publicly accessible point of contact

And most of the time, they’re completely unaware they’re being profiled.

The Exposure Layer You Didn’t Secure

Even if the principal has:

• A locked-down LinkedIn

• A scrubbed personal presence

• Hardened digital comms

The assistant is usually still:

• Listed on websites, articles, or press kits

• Taggable on LinkedIn

• Visible through calendar links, speaker contact forms, or email bounces

This creates what we call the Gatekeeper Gap — a soft perimeter around hard targets.

Real-World Vulnerabilities

• An executive scheduler’s out-of-office autoreply confirms travel timing

• A staff member’s public calendar reveals booking availability for an off-site event

• A former assistant’s bio still lists the executive’s name and direct office line

• A house manager posts a help wanted ad with the family’s residential ZIP code

None of this is malicious. All of it is exposed.

Common Staff-Based Threat Vectors

• Social engineering: phishing or spoofing the assistant to gain access or intel

• Physical tracking: using staff movement to pattern the principal

• Credential recon: assistants often use shared passwords or legacy logins

• Metadata leaks: PDFs, calendars, or job listings carrying residual identifying info

What You Can Do

1. Audit all digital mentions of staff — bios, email directories, contact pages

2. Train gatekeepers on OSINT risks — show them how targeting begins

3. Use indirect contact structures — don’t expose real inboxes on public web

4. Rotate logistics and comms patterns — break habitual scheduling behavior

5. Include staff in your exposure snapshot — we map your digital surface and theirs

You’ve secured the executive. Don’t forget the staff.

Edge Point Group helps clients identify and reduce exposure through the most commonly overlooked entry point: the people around them.