In its 1st report on the impact of cyber-crime on one of the UK’s highest-profile industries, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) shared that at least 70% of sporting institutions, organisations, & teams have undergone a security incident in the last year.
Very Real
Paul Chichester, Operations Director at the NCSC, commented, “While cyber security might not be an obvious consideration for the sports sector as it thinks about its return, our findings show that the impact of cyber-criminals cashing in on this industry is very real.”
Turnstiles
Some of the incidents revealed in the reports include blocked turnstiles at stadiums after systems were taken offline by ransomware, a large financial loss to a racecourse after a staff member fell victim to an eBay scam, & an attempt by organised criminals to sabotage a Premier League transfer deal after the club’s MD had his email hacked.
According to the NCSC, the 3 most usual tactics that cyber-criminals use against the sports industry are business email compromise, cyber-enabled fraud, & shutting down critical systems with ransomware.
Impact
As the sports sector begins to recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, sporting organisations should reduce further risk by paying more attention to cyber-security.
