The Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro brought a cyber-security risk, it is claimed. The analysis found that business-user sports fans’ risk from malware and other online threats more than doubled during the early days of the Rio Games, with 55pc of the potential risk stemming from intensified social media activity, according to Allot Communications Ltd.
Major sporting events attract both fans and cyber-criminals alike. Cyber-criminals take advantage of the increased interest in the events to spread malicious malware and perpetuate fraud through phishing emails with infected links, fake ticket sales, bogus apps, and other methods. The threat to business users is unique in that their online activity poses a risk not only to themselves, but also to enterprise networks. A random sample of one million global mobile users were monitored before and during the Games, That found:
– 23 per cent of sports fans are business users. The percentage of business user sports fans at risk more than doubled, reaching 45.6pc during the event versus 20.3pc before the event.
– Once the Games began, the percentage of business user sports fans using risky social media apps more than tripled over their pre-event activity, reaching 30.2pc during the event versus 9.7pc before the event.
– Social media activity was prolific during the opening ceremony with many users multitasking on several social apps. Facebook brands came up on top with the highest percentage of active users engaging in WhatsApp, Facebook and Facebook Messenger during the Rio Olympics opening ceremony.
The analysis builds on the recent Allot Mobile Trends Report Euro 2016 with Kaspersky Lab, which found the risk for digitally active sports fans more than doubled during the 2016 UEFA European Championship.
Yaniv Sulkes, AVP Marketing at Allot Communications, said: “Rio has the perfect climate for major security threats for two reasons: Firstly, the Games attract cybercriminals targeting unsuspecting sports fans. Secondly, mobile users tend to take risks they wouldn’t normally take in their day-to-day lives. Lessons can be learned from sports events such as Euro 2016 and the Rio Olympic Games. Mobile service providers have an opportunity to educate customers regarding cyber risks and to offer network-based security services to protect mobile devices. Mobile operators who adopt a proactive cyber-protection strategy for their customers will be able to leverage monetization opportunities.”
Source Data
This MobileTrends research is based on data usage records from a random global sample of one million mobile users. Allot collected and sampled data in two different time-frames in order to analyze behavior patterns before and during the Games. For details on the methodology and for more findings around mobile users’ risk during sports events, you can download the Allot MobileTrends Report UEFA Euro 2016: How Sports Events Put Mobile Users at Risk.
