The National Basketball Association's (NBA) San Antonio Spurs will secure its operations using Bitdefender Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services in conjunction with Bitdefender GravityZone eXtended Detection and Response (XDR) services, according to Bitdefender.
Together, Bitdefender's MDR and GravityZone XDR services will help the San Antonio Spurs' security and technology teams "detect and stop threats faster, improve threat hunt efficiency and strengthen cyber resilience of the franchise," Bitdefender said.
San Antonio Spurs Defend Their IT Infrastructure
The San Antonio Spurs can use Bitdefender MDR to assess and reduce risk and monitor their attack surfaces, Bitdefender said. Bitdefender MDR ensures that the team can guard against malware, zero day vulnerabilities, phishing attempts and other cyber threats across its network and endpoints, identity providers, cloud infrastructure and productivity applications.
Meanwhile, GravityZone XDR provides the San Antonio Spurs with security context, correlation of security alerts, analytics, incident triage and attack containment, Bitdefender indicated. It also delivers automated and guided response actions across the team's IT environment.
Minnesota Vikings Partner with Arctic Wolf
The San Antonio Spurs' deployment of Bitdefender MDR and GravityZone XDR comes after the NFL's Minnesota Vikings in November 2023 chose Arctic Wolf, a Top 40 managed detection and response (MDR) security company, as its Trusted Security Operations Partner.
With the partnership, the Minnesota Vikings can use Arctic Wolf's Security Operations Cloud to protect their data and detect and respond to threats, the team said.
Professional Sports Teams Are Susceptible to Cyberattacks
In a study released in 2022, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) reported that 70% of sports organizations experienced at least one cyber incident or breach within the past year. NCSC also found that 30% of these organizations recorded over five cyber incidents or breaches within this time frame.
Furthermore, NCSC noted that most cyberattacks against sports organizations are "conducted using commonly available tools and techniques which don't need a lot of technical knowledge to be effective." These tools and techniques include phishing, password spraying and credential stuffing.
Cyber Risks for Professional Sports Teams
Professional sports teams must consider a variety of potential attack vectors to guard against cyberattacks. These vectors include:
- Digital signage and video boards
- Wi-Fi hotspots and mobile apps
- Point-of-sale (PoS) systems
- Stadium IT infrastructure and equipment
Moving forward, many sports teams may deploy MDR, XDR and other security technologies. By doing so, they can protect against current and emerging threats.
