Professional sports has a cybersecurity problem. Last year, the National Cyber Security Centre found that 70% of sports organizations experience at least one cyberattack per year. This is a considerable increase over general businesses, of which just 32% reported dealing with cyber incidents or harmful cyber activity.
Many factors are driving this trend. For starters, high-profile sporting events have grown increasingly digitized in recent years. Sports teams, major league and global sporting associations, and entertainment venues are home to valuable information, such as insights on athletic performance and each team’s competitive advantages, as well as sensitive consumer data. And with the global sports market expected to reach $623.6 billion by 2027, threat actors are looking to capitalize on this information.
Furthermore, large-scale professional sports environments have numerous connected devices and interconnected networks. For example, when Microsoft helped deliver cybersecurity support for critical infrastructure facilities during a large global sporting event, we performed over 634.6 million authentications while helping protect more than 100,000 endpoints, 144,000 identities, and 14.6 million email flows.
High-profile sporting events come together quickly, so it’s important that security teams have clear visibility and control across their entire digital estates. This includes everything from attendees’ personal devices to the team or venue’s Web and social media presence, registration and ticketing platforms, mass notification systems, electronic signage, and more.
Keep reading to learn about the biggest cybersecurity risks facing professional sports teams and event venues and how you can help defend against them.
4 Key Cyber-Risks For Sports Venues
No two venues are alike, and security teams must weigh a variety of factors, such as the arena’s physical location, event participants, and crowd size, to create an accurate cyber-risk profile. However, similarities can still be found among high-profile sporting events. Here are some of the common cyber-risks to pay attention to when securing large events and venues.
Cyber threats for sporting events represent a unique challenge. These threats can be difficult to detect due to the fast-paced nature of professional sports and large-scale events. However, by sharing intel on the latest attack vectors and cybersecurity best practices, we can work to create a more secure digital landscape for sports fans and professionals alike.