UMBRA News

At UMBRA International, we take care of all your security needs, from the physical to the reputational, the emotional to digital, and also your legacies – your future.

To explain what this means, we invited Zita Nikoletta Verbenyi, our go-to Legacy Advisor, to break down what this entails.
Zita is the Founder and Legacy Aesthete at The Legacy Atelier™. She is a Cultural Scientist and the 1st PhD Candidate in Family Legacies. She is a Top Recommended Family Business Adviser in 2021/22/23 by Spear’s 500, and holds a wealth of expertise and profound insights into the most critical dynamics and matters facing business and legacy families, as well as high-flying individuals.

Legacy advisors generally help affluent families and individuals with their current and future financial and legal matters and/or navigate, as well as enhance their philanthropic activities.
I cover legacies from a much broader perspective. I advise on and curate the different legacy layers and capitals, bring the past, present, and future together, and help build, shape, understand, narrate, and preserve legacies, as well as ensure their longevity for generations to come.

If individuals and families of substantial wealth do not engage in activities to preserve their legacies, not only will their legacies evaporate over time, but their families will also get fragmented, and family unity will also be gone as a consequence. As we find ourselves in the greatest wealth transfer ever in history, as well as in an epistemic crisis and an era in which AI-generated imagery, voice recordings, and texts are increasingly available – driving, safeguarding, and futureproofing the content and impact of legacies are particularly relevant. Naturally, legacy preservation is just one aspect of legacies. Legacy is a particularly complex field that I have been broadening, re-energising, and re-calibrating in creative and innovative ways over the past few years’ time since I set up The Legacy Atelier™.

Many business families and UHNWIs only hold corporate timelines of their business achievements and milestones; however they do not really know much about and learn from their different family eras, family characters, the immense legacy, and the connected major impact that they have made throughout the various decades or centuries. In addition, legacy ateliers and projects also help shareholders, other stakeholders, and community members stay anchored, engaged, and inspired, which is critical to the long-term success of family, business, and other activities.
I also help with the various thinking processes and different phases of legacies, whether it’s about starting to build a legacy, re-energising or re-calibrate one, harnessing it for different purposes, or passing it on to the next generation of legacy guardians.

A secure lifestyle means an emotionally and intellectually secure lifestyle; the safety and security that families provide their family members with a much-needed anchoring, education, engagement, and inspiration, as well as an alignment on many levels fostering not only a deep sense of belonging but also a joint well-informed future with their family members.
A secure lifestyle also means that family members can trust the information and legacy details around their family, business, and other endeavours, and perceive a solid safety net around themselves, as well as being able to own their own stories and narratives and add their legacy marks to their family legacy. Legacy projects and working with legacies require therefore heightened privacy and security considerations on all fronts.

• Whether it’s an individual trying to make sense of what they have achieved and build upon, as well as further shape and maximise, their legacy and pass it on to their next generation
• An individual or family in need of updated, recalibrated narratives and finding their paths and purpose via their legacies 
• A family who would wish to capture, learn from, preserve, narrate, showcase, inspire with, and ensure the longevity of their family legacy via different legacy projects
• A family in identity crisis 
• A family having matters around family dynamics
• A family having difficulties engaging their next-generation members
• A family prior to a generational succession, liquidity event, or another major transition
• A family in need of enhancing their family as well as shareholder engagement and alignment, especially when it comes to their next-generation members
• A family prior to a large anniversary or milestone
• A family who would wish to celebrate their current leader, who is about to step down
• And much more legacy ateliers, curations, and projects for individuals, families, and institutions

We all have a legacy to protect, and knowing who you are and where you come from links to our emotional security, which radiates out to those around us, creating an atmosphere of stability and emotional prosperity.

For those of you at home who want to begin creating your own personal legacy, you can start with the basics.

• Discover your roots and investigate your genealogy and family history at Ancestry.com
• Arrange a family gathering for different generations to engage and share stories of their lives and experiences
• Create a digital family journal to detail momentous life achievements across the generations

If you would like to find out more about how UMBRA International and The Legacy Atalier can assist you in preserving and safeguarding your legacy, please contact us for more information.

From all at UMBRA International, we wish you a safe and secure future!

The future is apparently here as artificial intelligence being used on a day-to-day basis is no longer a mere concept but a tangible reality of the modern world. For many, it is an exciting time, one of enhanced productivity and output, but for others they are treading carefully, unsure of what this means for the future.

At UMBRA International we wanted to explore the topic with you, allaying any potential fears and exploring both sides of what is already, or soon to become, a new fixture in our lives.

Q1) What is AI and specifically ChatGPT?
AI – Artificial Intelligence is a method of making computerised technology simulate human intelligence. It can problem-solve or perform a task otherwise performed by humans. ChatGPT is an AI chatbot that is capable of understanding and generating human-like responses. It can answer questions, summarise text or data, generate written content and translate languages.

Q2) What are the most obvious benefits to businesses using features like Chat GPT as a go-to resource?
There is the potential to utilise it to assist with research, communication and the automation of certain processes. The vast well of data it can mine from and the speed at which it can do so can provide businesses with a wealth of data to refer to. Providing 24/7 customer support in the form of chatbots can offer an enhanced customer experience. This communication can be expanded into accounting, social media, and HR, etc.

Q3) For a business or individual worried about digital safety, what would your top recommendation be to alleviate their concerns?
Implement robust data protection measures, including encryption and authentication, ensure secure storage practices, regular security updates, intrusion detection systems, regularly audit activity, train your employees to fully understand how to be security aware whilst using AI, and stay continuously informed with the latest updates in the field. Ensure your systems are designed to respect privacy and avoid all bias and discrimination.

Q4) How is AI impacting the physical aspect of security?
AI has an increasingly important role in improving physical security systems such as CCTV. The systems can monitor and detect intrusions or suspicious activity by analysing the images and motion. AI is trained by learning from historical data to differentiate between normal events (animals or environmental factors) and potential breaches. The facial recognition technology integrated into systems can analyse features in real-time and match them against databases to identify anyone of interest. Video analytics can do the same for object detection and tracking, facilitating more effective surveillance.

Q5) What would you say in response to those concerned about the displacement of jobs, with the growth of automation through AI?
The goal of AI is to take over mundane tasks, allowing humans to focus on more complex activities. With this support tool, workers can increase their productivity and decision-making.

Q6) How can AI be used to support decision-making within a business?
AI can access and analyse a vast pool of data, providing reports with valuable insights that can inform decision-making and strategies. It can make predictions based on historical data and patterns, giving companies the ability to anticipate outcomes, assess risks, and make more informed decisions.

Q7) Can AI be used to increase protection within digital security?
With the ability to analyse large volumes of data, AI can detect any patterns or anomalies connected with security breaches and fraud. With a continual monitoring system set up, it can flag suspicious activity in real time. With 90% of all data breaches linked to phishing attacks (Cisco) AI can help in detecting and preventing these attacks by analysing email content and sender behaviour. It can also strengthen user authentication by analysing things such as typing patterns, voice recognition, and mouse movements, thereby strengthening security measures beyond passwords and biometrics.

Q8) Are AI systems reliable?
Building and maintaining the AI systems and ensuring a diverse set of data is used for training the systems is costly and time-consuming. Without a sufficiently wide pool of data to extract its data from, AI can produce incorrect results. Currently, an AI system like Chat GPT’s information is limited as its information is limited to 2021. Additionally, cybercriminals can also use AI to create more sophisticated attacks.

Q9) What can businesses do to ensure that ethical considerations are made in terms of bias, employee well-being, transparency, and accountability whilst using AI?
AI systems can only be as unbiased as the data that they are trained on. Meaning that businesses have a responsibility to ensure their systems are trained on impartial and representative data. One of the primary concerns discussed in relation to the increased use of AI is the supplanting of workers. It is critical that businesses ensure the psychological security of their employees is considered, whilst focusing on how AI can be used to free up employees enabling them to focus on more creative and strategic work. For a business to make a decision based on information provided by AI, it is important that its systems are transparent, meaning that its decisions can be understood and audited by humans.

With the implications both positive and negative on businesses, it is important that they learn to navigate the complexities of AI in order to harness its full benefits and continue to innovate.

If you would like to find out more about how UMBRA International could assist you in updating your security measures, please contact us for more information.

From all at UMBRA International, we wish you a safe and secure AI experience!

Happy Pride to all in our LGBTQI+ community!

At UMBRA International we want to embrace and celebrate a culture of inclusivity. We want everyone to be themselves, and to be comfortable being so. When we feel comfortable and accepted, we thrive as individuals, and within a work environment we contribute to a healthy, happy, and prosperous business.

The benefit to businesses from LGBTQI+ inclusivity can be seen through:

• Higher retention and loyalty/satisfaction rates among all employees
• Better reputation – companies supporting the LGBTQI+ community are perceived more positively and forward-looking
• Higher profit margins reported
• Diversity of thought
• Higher levels of productivity (an Oxford study showed productivity is 13% higher when employees are happy at work)
  
  How businesses and individuals can be more welcoming and inclusive of the LGTBQI+ community

Language has the ability to build bridges, empower people, and protect them. On the other hand, it can also alienate and stigmatise.

How to build a more inclusive company through the language that you use:

The evolution of language and our understanding of what is respectful to our LGBTQI+ community can leave some feeling unsure of what they should or shouldn’t say, which means they end up not engaging in conversations, or with the community out of fear of being considered not supportive.

From a business perspective, this is where training and education are incredibly important. It is the company’s responsibility to create a safe space and foster an environment of compassion and respect for all employees. This can only happen if everyone is on the same page about understanding equitable language.

As individuals, we can create a welcoming atmosphere and demonstrate an openness to topics relating to sexual orientation and gender identity. Being sensitive but straightforward, and having the openness to learn and adapt are the most important things. Understanding that part of the learning process may mean that sometimes we may make mistakes in our phrasing or expressions, but the important thing is to correct ourselves, move on, and continue to work on using the correct terminology.

To learn more about terms used within the LGBTQI+ community visit Stonewall’s list of terms, or look to utilise the many short courses LinkedIn offers around creating an inclusive workplace.

Read UMBRA International’s Policy on Equality, Diversity, Inclusion, and Respect, and we hope that you can join us on our journey of putting our values into practice – in both words and actions.

From all at UMBRA International, we wish you a happy and inclusive workplace experience.

Most of us wouldn’t consider leaving our front door open, not only do we close our front doors, but we lock them too. It provides us with a necessary barrier against any potential dangers and can also provide us with a feeling of mental security too. Why then are many people so much more relaxed with their digital security, do they not value their personal correspondence, their financial records, data on their health, and their private moments? Of course, each and every one of us would answer yes to this, however, many aren’t aware of how pervasive and destructive cybercrime can be.

At UMBRA Secure we want to educate and provide accessible security measures to everyone. First, let’s review a few statistics around cybercrime to fully understand the importance of putting preventative security in place.

• About 14.5 billion email spam campaigns accounted for over 45% of all email traffic. (Source: Statista)
• According to cyber attack statistics, email remains one of the most popular and successful means that hackers use in distributing malware to their prospective victims. When a target opens the attached file or clicks on the malicious link following an email, a type of malware is executed. It either steals user information or disrupts company operations, depending on what it was programmed to achieve. 90% of all data breaches are linked to phishing attacks suggesting a need for increased data security. (Cisco). The most common subject lines for phishing emails include words such as urgent, request, important, payment, or attention. (Tessian)
• Cybercrime, which includes everything from theft or embezzlement to data hacking and destruction, is up 600% as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• According to IBM, it takes a company 197 days to discover the breach and up to 69 days to contain it.
  
  

• Emails asking for urgent action – they are there to unbalance and distract you.  Users are so keen to avoid the negative consequences they fail to study the email for inconsistencies or clues it might be bogus.
• Spelling/grammatical mistakes in emails – emails with spelling or grammar errors should at least be treated with suspicion.
• Unfamiliar greetings – emails from colleagues or friends usually start with informal greetings – if it’s not how they would usually greet you and are using a different language than normal, then treat with suspicion.
• Inconsistencies with the email address – hover over the sender’s email address, is it the same as previous emails from that sender? 
• Inconsistencies with links and domain names – hover over to see what pops up – unfamiliar website? Different extension used like .zip .xc .scr? This could be phishing.
• Emails that seem too good to be true – usually are!
• Emails requesting login credentials, payment information, or other sensitive information – are always to be treated with caution.
  

Transferring data between business and personal devices is often inevitable as a result of the increasing amount of employees who work remotely. Keeping sensitive data on personal devices significantly increases vulnerability to cyber attacks.

Downloading files from unverified sources can expose your systems and devices to security risks. It’s important to only download files from trusted sources and avoid unnecessary downloads to lower your device’s susceptibility to malware.

Password strength is the first line of defence against a variety of attacks. Using strings of symbols that don’t have a meaning, regular password changes and never writing them down or sharing them is a crucial step to protecting your sensitive data. Use two-factor authentication which is a security system that requires two separate, distinct forms of identification in order to access something.  

Software providers work hard on continuously making their software more secure, and regularly installing the latest updates and backing up your data will make your devices less vulnerable to attacks.

Regularly monitoring your data and identifying existing leaks will help mitigate the potential fallout from long-term data leakage. Data breach monitoring tools actively monitor and alert you to suspicious activity. 

It is extremely easy for hackers to access your data through your wifi. When setting up your wifi for business be sure to set up two separate networks; one public and one private. The private wifi should be limited to employee use only.

If you would like to find out more about how UMBRA International could assist you in updating your security measures, please do contact us for more information.

From all at UMBRA Secure, we wish you a safe and secure digital experience!

How do security and breathwork sit together I hear you ask?

Well, breathwork, the conscious awareness of your breath, can offer the chance for transformation through improved mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being. As you may know, Team UMBRA believes that emotional safety is a key pillar in the overall process of risk management, and we are on a mission to bring its benefits to a wider audience to help make the world a safer place.

Some of the benefits may include:

Breathwork is something that can have a positive impact on both your personal and professional lives. The  UMBRA Secure team works with security personnel who need to stay mentally and physically grounded and alert at all times. Recognising that breath work can help with mental health, stress reduction and focus, benefits both our teams and clients immensely.

Our Secure Lifestyle Training team believes that we can all use these practices as part of our personal safety training, as well as our holistic well-being, and we wanted to share our insights with you as the day-to-day impact it can have on your life can be powerful. 

1) Your breathing is far more efficient when you pay attention to your posture and relax your muscles. An upright, but not forced posture, reduces some constriction. Notice what is going on with your shoulders and abdomen now, let both relax and your breathing should become freer.

2) There are natural breathing and focused breathing techniques. The former is for general well-being, and the latter can help when involved in a specific activity, or to tap into specific skills. In training, we discuss both, as there are methods to better manage fear or build resilience.

3) When out and about, try some purposeful breathing for a better state of alertness. Don’t force the breathing, just consciously breathe with purpose.

4) A popular method used by some military personnel is box breathing, the name reflecting the fact that this breathing technique consists of four steps, each of which should take the same amount of time, usually four seconds.

Please note: such methods must be used carefully, considering a person’s medical condition and other factors. We also have for specific situations:  triangle breathing, rectangular breathing and octagonal breathing. These can help with communicating, listening, and energising.

5) Discharging breath is a good exercise for when you want to shake off any negative energy you may be feeling. Stand up and breathe in comfortably, then exhale through the mouth whilst imagining the tension leaving your body through the soles of the feet. Repeat ten times.

6) When you find yourself distracted and your mind wandering, count your breaths so you are shifting your awareness. Count the length of inhale and exhale for at least a few rounds. Start by counting 1 on the slow inhale through the nose, 2 on the long exhale through the mouth, 3 on the inhale, 4 on the exhale, and 5 on the inhale and release. Observe how this affects you.

Note: These breathing exercises should be done at a safe time and not when driving or engaged in a task that requires total concentration.

There are so many more techniques and benefits to explore in this intriguing subject, so whether you want to organise some safety training, increase your confidence, or add an element of wellness to your daily routine and security practices, contact UMBRA for more information.

From all at UMBRA International, we wish you good mental health and happiness.

Contributions from Kim Garrett

Key to UMBRA’s Secure Lifestyle methodology involves us sharing and promoting easy-to-assimilate information with our clients and community. This is so that we can empower people and make the world a safer place, encouraging everyone to hone their ‘gut instinct’ to look out for ourselves, and others. With it being International Women’s Day (IWD) we wanted to use this time to empower women by sharing the access we have to powerful resources in safety training and educational material, through to news updates and insights from some of our leading specialists in personal safety. The theme of this year’s IWD is ‘Embrace Equity’ and we hope our resources and values help you to be part of the conversation to make the world a more equitable place for everyone

It is important to realise that as humans we have an incredible ability to pick up knowledge and information about our surroundings. We can use our senses, and that little voice inside us that tells us to be mindful of the places we enter and of the people around us, to great effect. Realising that you have this inner bodyguard can inspire you to better prepare for your travels and be more connected to your surroundings.

Modern life can be frantic, and you might find your lifestyle is such that you’re often rushing around, and this can affect your ability to see things clearly. It is important to manage your life in a way that stops it from turning your inner world into one that moves so quickly you’re not in control. Find ways to relax and to centre yourself. Living a Secure Lifestyle is predicated on the knowledge that this is a skill that can be learnt, and we are happy to provide these techniques to our clients.

We know that street criminals often spend time studying those who pass them by, they assess who could be perceived as an easy target. If a client had a Close Protection (bodyguard) team, this might considerably deter some criminals for example. On the same level, if your inner bodyguard is alert and seems to be ‘on duty’, this will make you better at choosing routes, better at seeing things in advance, and you are less likely to drop your guard. You should then be less approachable to thieves or other street criminals.

In the Close Protection field, a team may consist of a direct physical presence and others with a more discreet presence, we talk about ‘invisible security’ a lot – especially in relation to our female operators who sometimes go completely unnoticed. Sometimes, the best bodyguard is invisible. Invisible in that they attract less attention, they are harder to notice, and they blend naturally into the background. This is a skill we can help you with. As a starting point, understand the factors that make you appear on the radar of certain criminals, from the jewellery that you wear to the way you move about, to the way you use your phone when out and about.

To avoid some of the risks that are out there, we need to be aware of how risk levels can vary based on various factors such as time of day, the areas we move through, and the venues we head to. Certain risks can be more prevalent in specific environments or areas – eg an open countryside environment vs a busy urban one. Also, understand what makes us falsely perceive risk levels. Again, this is something we explain in more detail in our situational awareness courses.

Your inner bodyguard is also a mindset to help you think about how you manage your space. It enables you to better understand distance, relationship boundaries and ways to move, so you can maintain or adjust the space. There are also accessible tools you can use to generate distance, this includes the use of body language, dialogue and understanding your options. We cover this in our situational awareness course.

People often ask about self-defence training, and this is certainly something we provide. Our approach has multiple layers. Physical skills certainly have a place, but self-defence is a far wider subject with many other moving parts. We will look at evasive procedures, ways of reducing confrontational outcomes, and ways to strengthen the inner bodyguard so that you are better at picking up signs of trouble much earlier. Physical self-defence training certainly helps to build confidence, and increase agility and in some cases, it really could help a person to get out of a tight spot. We just don’t want our clients to be in these situations in the first place, hence our situational awareness-focused initial training approach.

The types of safety knowledge and the way you use your inner bodyguard can also depend on your role, occupation, and lifestyle. We have developed courses specific for private office employees, nannies, teachers, front-of-house staff, high-profile clients, parents and for specific family members – across the generations. Ultimately, we want you to realise the potential of your inner bodyguard and how it can serve you in life, whatever your role and whoever you are. A Secure Lifestyle is something that should be accessible to everyone.

For more information about our training courses email secure@umbrainternational.com.

From all at UMBRA International, we wish you a happy and safe International Women’s Day. #IWD2023 #EmbraceEquity

February is almost here, and it’s time when many people will be out celebrating Valentine’s Day. For those who are single, it can be a time to meet a new person or go out with someone you’ve recently gotten to know. Others may feel inspired to head to a Valentine’s social event or party. And why not! 

Our Secure Lifestyle Team feels this is a good time for us to share safety tips that could be useful for when you go out on a date, so you don’t leave yourself vulnerable. Then again, if you really want to feel more secure, why not participate in one of our bespoke training courses. We’ll share with you the security knowledge of the professionals, physical skills and dynamic mindset training.

1) Homework: If you organise a date, whether through online platforms or an everyday encounter, see what research you can do beforehand. You don’t have to be an intelligence analyst to get some basic background information on the web.  Even the person’s social media may convey something helpful.

2) Consider: Of course, there are people who are very skilled at using social media, with selective photos, to convey an impressive or very different image of who they really are. A social media profile can be very different from the real person.

3) Share: Before you go on the date, inform a trusted friend or family member, or better still, tell a few, that you are going on a date. You can share location, time and even who you are meeting. Adding to this, you can gently let the person you are meeting know, in a subtle fashion of course, that you’ve shared with a friend or family that you are having this date.
Showing people that you don’t know that well, that you are careful and sensible about your safety and your boundaries, may deter some inappropriate behaviour. You should also let the friend or family member know when the date is over, or if there was anything that concerned you.

4) Observe: When you meet the person, note their body language. How do they convey themselves. Eye contact and eye movement (or lack of it) can also convey a great deal.
Do they respect your physical space, or do they try to impose or dominate? Sometimes, you might not know what it is that makes you feel uncomfortable around a person. You just pick up on something strange.
See how alcohol affects them as the date progresses. Does it make them seem angrier, or possibly aggressive, or too eager for your liking.
Be mindful of the type of questions they ask and the way they ask certain questions. Yes, questions are how we get to know people but sometimes they can be used to exploit a vulnerability or to dominate. Be careful what information you give out to people you don’t know that well.

5) Listen: Note how the person tries to portray themselves. Does the narrative add up? How do they respond when you ask questions? It can take time to really get to know someone well.

6) Stay in control: Be mindful of your own alcohol consumption, especially with strangers, watch your drink very carefully; don’t expose your drink to the potential of spiking.

7) Intelligent exit: Never feel obliged to stay within the situation, especially if you feel you’re less safe after exiting a venue. Think of ways you can step away without creating provocation and ways you can get home without leaving yourself in danger. Don’t expose yourself to other forms of crime when moving about late at night.

8) Enjoy: Have a safe night but a fun one.

Act: Get in touch for a friendly chat with our team to find out how you can access our Secure Lifestyle training.

From all at UMBRA International, UMBRA Secure and the Secure Lifestyle Training Team we wish you a happy and safe Valentine’s day. Email or call us on our contacts below if you’d like any more information.

The start of any year is always a time to reflect on the last, and goal set for the next – and on that theme, we hope you enjoyed our Resolutions blog to help you start thinking more broadly about your Secure Lifestyle. However, all of us are living in uncertain times and for many of us this year holds a great deal of anxiety about the future, from soaring energy bills, to anxiety about rising food costs. 

At UMBRA HQ we believe in the power of feeling safe and feeling safe stems from being able to cover our basic needs. Security shouldn’t be the preserve of the few, it should be something we can all experience, so we’ve put together some tips to stay safe that are at zero or low cost, so you can kick-start your resolutions without it hitting your wallet.

10 steps to prepare you for the Cost of Living Secure Lifestyle journey:

• Recognise your emotions about feeling safe or unsafe in any aspect. Daily journaling can help you to start to see patterns.
• Do you feel empowered about your secure lifestyle decisions – where you go/travel to, how you live, and who is in your life? Or are you feeling like you are being held back or constrained in some way because of a fear for your or your family’s safety?
• Safety in Financial Security – review your budget (click here for budget tools) and look into details: where are you spending money?
• Check your savings– do you have enough to cover an emergency?
• Don’t judge yourself on where you are at – every journey has a start, even a Secure Lifestyle one.
• Try to ignore the noise, switch off the bad news and focus on your personal situation. Bad events have happened in the past, things will get better in the longer term. 
• Be resourceful – make the most of the online resource help that is available to you – see our Secure Lifestyle Toolkits and Bodyguard in a Bag online resources.
• Plan ahead – if you can, don’t lose sight of the future and the importance of thinking ahead for you and your family’s safety.
• Start talking to your kids about safety, including digital safety, from a very young age. 
• Always be learning – stay up to date with the best ways to stay on top of your personal security by following the UMBRA Instagram

During these hard times for so many, we thought we would give you some tips on zero-cost ways to stay safe. 5 things you can do today to keep safe at no cost.

Top 5 Cost of Living Secure Lifestyle Tips

• Community is the first line of defence: Set up your building/street/neighbourhood WhatsApp group.
• Stay in control of your digital life: Set up a Google Key Word Alert to see how your name is appearing in online searches.
• Enhance your mental well-being: Use the freemium resources on the mindfulness apps. Downloading Calm is a great first step.
• Use a VPN: Our favourite is 1.1.1.1.
• Take the UMBRA Secure Lifestyle Questionnaire by clicking here.

What to do with your Secure Lifestyle Questionnaire Results:
0-4 – Book in for our Secure Lifestyle Discovery Call
4-8 – You’re on your way, book in for a Secure Lifestyle Evaluation
8+ – All-Star Security – share this with your friends and family and help make the world a safer place and contact us to keep learning more

From all of UMBRA International, UMBRA Secure and the Secure Lifestyle Training Team

As we focus on being in the new year, here at UMBRA International, we’ve been working on unique ways to further help our clients to feel more secure and better prepared for the challenges of these times. On top of this, we want to help our clients achieve their goals and prosper. We are big advocates of the Maslow Hierarchy approach to life – giving clients a helping hand with a baseline of feeling safe in order that they can self-actualise and live their best Secure Lifestyle.

So you have thought of some resolutions you’d like to set yourself as this year begins – and that’s great, the thing is when we say to ourselves- “I am going to stop doing habit A” or “I want to be able to do X or Y within the next two months”, we can sometimes sabotage ourselves. Our subconscious can start to trigger resistance to the goals and restrictions it feels like we’ve placed on it.

Here are two Secure Lifestyle Resolution tips from our Founder & CEO Kate Bright: 1) Sit down and plot the course of the year ahead with One Year Compass 2) Think about what habits mean to you by reading James Clear’s Atomic Habits.

Here are some other pointers in our Beyond Resolutions Guide:

An expanding perspective
You are, with this approach, going beyond resolutions. You are heading to a place of steady curiosity, possibilities and expansion.

UMBRA & Resolutions
We believe your safety and security are distinctly interconnected with both your mental and physical well-being. They also connect with your ability to flow and progress in life. Progression inspires further growth and new insight.
The UMBRA International Secure Lifestyle training team can help you to expand your perspective, unveil new layers to your potential and access a special combination of expertise, knowledge and experience.
We provide training courses and friendly coaching on:

Moving with you; supporting you
The start of the year is a great time to initiate positive endeavours. It takes a readiness to act and a bit of commitment. That’s why it is good to have a dedicated team in your corner. Contact us and let’s make a plan and move forward together. Book your 30 min call here.

Here’s to an amazing year ahead from UMBRA Secure and the Training Team

The festive season will soon commence. Given what a long year this has been, invariably many will be looking forward to some celebratory events. So yes, this is the time of parties, dinners, work functions and Christmas sweaters. From the security perspective, ‘tis also the season to be vigilant…

Here are some insights from the UMBRA Secure Team:

With so much going on, you might find the month is crammed with activity. Sometimes it can even feel tiring. Don’t let fatigue cause you to drop your guard. Don’t rush around at a chaotic pace, where you compromise your awareness. Take a moment to calm yourself. breathe, centre, and activate your awareness.

When going to parties or nights out, just as Close Protection teams plan their routes ahead, you should familiarise yourself with venue locations and develop a sense of how to get there. Think of the safest routes and organise transport effectively. When moving about, try to minimise or even avoid where possible lots of time staring at your phone or an on-screen map.

Criminals use awareness too, they observe who is distracted by their tech, they see who looks vulnerable perhaps due to their body language or intoxicated state. Inside venues, one must be especially vigilant in regard to one’s drinks. Be careful of who offers you a drink and don’t leave yours exposed. Drink spiking is a very real threat, even in nice venues. In crowded or lively places, also be aware of the risk of spiking via needles or other means. Notice in nocturnal venues, how sometimes dangerous individuals or groups might start off by being friendly and inviting. Also in venues, be mindful of bag or phone snatchers. They tend to come out a lot more at this time of year.

Especially important is our route and method of getting home. This is when people sometimes compromise their safety. Be careful leaving stations or venues when it is dark or late at night. Be mindful of anyone who might be following you. Don’t hesitate to call for help if you feel something isn’t right. Criminals often tend to frequent areas where there are bars and clubs. They also spend time in expensive areas, where victims may have more wealth. Maintain vigilance even in these areas.

When moving about the city, note the behavioural indicators that convey someone may be a threat, excessive eye contact, unpredictable or intimidating body language; groups that seem to be just hanging about. If you see a potential risk in advance, you will be better at avoiding it.

Also, note that some criminals use vehicles from which to engage their selected vehicle.  Use your vigilance to spot individuals sat in cars and again keep your distance. Move with purpose and convey you are alert. At other times, study how to blend into an environment and not get noticed. UMBRA International’s urban awareness courses can also help you sharpen up and be more confident.

Before going out, assess yourself, does your jewellery, watch or bag make you stand out? Can you conceal or use coats that hide your attire? Do you have footwear that you can run in or escape trouble quickly? What story do you project – victim, easy target, vulnerable, or perhaps calm and alert?

Secure Lifestyle starts with Situational Awareness, and we help clients all year round to empower them and their families. Get in touch for more help and support.

Seasons Greetings from UMBRA Secure and the Training Team