Defense will be on the minds of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers as they prepare to face off in the 45th Super Bowl this Sunday. And cyber defense should be on the minds of companies and individuals as they communicate with friends and colleagues about the game, Maciw told Infosecurity.
“The Super Bowl presents opportunities to scammers because there is potentially a wider audience for their scams. They are going to reap more benefits because there are a larger number of potential victims”, he warned. “Phishing, for instance, is a scam that can generate billions of dollars with just a small percentage of hits being successful."
Hackers might use compromised social networking sites to pose as friends and send “tantalizing” links that could result in computer infection. “People should definitely be wary of those, particularly if the messages seem out of character”, he said.
Maciw also warned about search engine “poisoning”, in which criminals are able to raise the ranking of their malicious websites in search engine results. People who visit those sites could have their computers infected by a drive-by attack.
In addition, people should be careful about buying Super Bowl tickets, accommodations, or memorabilia through “deals” offered by emails or bogus websites, he said. In a blog, the NFL advises consumers on how to avoid ticket scams.
Maciw warned companies that if they prevent employees from talking about and watching sporting events, like the Super Bowl, the employees are going to find ways around those obstacles. And this increases the risks that they will visit malicious sites that infect the corporate network.
The Clearswift manager said that companies could set up a computer or a big screen TV in a common area so that employees could watch the “match.” This would discourage employees from sitting at their desks and watching streaming video of the games. This recommendation would be more appropriate for World Cup matches that are more likely to be during working hours, Maciw, who is British, conceded.