The number of cybersecurity incidents is constantly increasing, and these are not only targeted attacks, but also large-scale malicious campaigns. Attackers are not limited to attacks on large companies, but are increasingly turning their attention to mass events such as sports competitions. According to Microsoft, attacks at major sporting events can result in data leaks, disruption of critical infrastructure, and more.
Image source: hothardware.com
A recent report from the software giant states that cybersecurity threats exist at sporting events “diverse and complex”. It is specifically noted “No major sporting event exhibits the same cyber risk profiles”and attackers can target information about athletes, coaches, organizers, as well as compromising point-of-sale devices, visitor devices, and more.
Regardless of what the attackers aim for, each individual event differs in terms of location, number and composition of participants, demographics, etc. Microsoft monitored 45 organizations participating in major sporting events, with a total of approximately 100,000 access points, on which 634.6 Millions of authentication attempts were made. On average, there were around 6340 authentication attempts per endpoint. At the same time, some end devices are critical, so that significantly more authentication attempts can be made on them.
The report notes that ensuring cybersecurity at major sporting events is generally a complex issue. The political and financial motives of the attackers, as well as the different conditions of each competition, make it difficult to ensure cyber security.
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