United Healthcare CEO shooting: Executives worry about safety [Video]

UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot Wednesday doing something countless other American executives routinely do: Walking unaccompanied to an investor event held by his company.

But Thompson’s death this week in the heart of corporate America’s capital has sent shockwaves throughout the business world, forcing companies to rethink the risks in even the most routine executive responsibilities.

“Everyone’s scrambling to say, ‘Are we safe?'” said Chuck Randolph, chief security officer for Ontic, an Austin, Texas-based provider of threat management software. “This is an inflection point where the idea of executive protection is now raised to the board level. Everyone I know in the industry is feeling this.”

Threats against corporations have been rising for years, fueled in part by the echo chamber of social media and a more polarized political environment, according to security professionals. But the slaying on …