Microsoft says that sporting events are becoming more exposed to cyberattacks these days. The tech giant warns that hackers are just lurking in the corner to target high-profile sporting events which pose a great risk to participants, organizers, and attendees.
Sporting Events Are Targets of Cyberattacks
Microsoft has warned that cyberattacks can penetrate even the infrastructure of the most popular sporting events.
According to a new study conducted by Microsoft, it was discovered that sporting events are becoming easy targets for cybercriminals.
The Redmond-based firm shares in a Cyber Signals report that threat actors are getting smarter in infiltrating the infrastructure of sporting occasions globally.
In recent years, hackers have become smarter in launching cyberattack schemes on high-profile sports organizations and events.
For instance, about 70% of the organizations that handle sporting events admitted that they have been hit by at least one attack annually, per UK's National Cyber Security Center (NCSC).
Microsoft Saw Hacking Attempts at 2022 FIFA World Cup
According to Microsoft, there were close observations that pointed out that the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar was targeted by cyberhackers.
The software maker adds that cybercriminals have tried to break into the systems of the huge sporting event.
Microsoft Security Research's Principal Group Manager Justin Turner told Infosecurity that there were signs that the threat actors utilized identity-based attacks last year.
"What we saw was consistent, with cyber-criminals being opportunistic and seeing where they can infiltrate and find gaps between a lot of connected systems, in the context of a large event. The cybercrime economy's sheer size and low barriers to entry make this kind of opportunism a significant risk to account for in planning and having layered defenses in place," Turner said.
Related Article: China Dismisses Microsoft Report on Hacking as 'Disinformation'
Protecting Sporting Events Against Cyberattacks is a Big Challenge
Because sporting systems have wide coverage of infrastructure to protect, there lies a challenge in how to safeguard the systems and the data effectively.
According to TechRadar, hackers also hit the IT systems by deploying malware and stealing personal information from the victims.
Some of the breached information during the previous attacks include visitors' personal info, sale data, login credentials in hotspots, and more.
Some of the known cyberattack incidents that took place for the past three years include the Manchester United cyberattack (2020), the Houston Rocket ransomware attack where 500GB of data were stolen (2021), and the infamous San Francisco 49ers cyber attack which happened prior to the Sunday Super Bowl.
Apart from that, the FBI warned the viewers of the Beijing Winter Olympics to use burner phones instead of their personal handsets because of a potential cyberattack.
With this, Microsoft believes that choosing a sporting venue is important to mitigate security risks. It should be taken into account that the digital infrastructure should be further improved so invaders can't easily destroy the systems.
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