Believe it or not, business owners who rely on technology can learn valuable insights about cybersecurity as a service from the Super Bowl.
The Super Bowl — one of the biggest sporting events on the planet — is just a few days away. This event hosts thousands at the stadium in Las Vegas and many millions more around the globe via its TV broadcast. More than 115 million tuned in for the 2023 game, up from 99 million viewers in 2022.
Millions of viewers are enthralled by the spectacle. Whether the competition between the two teams is a nail-biter or a snoozefest, fans will still be glued to their television sets. They are drawn by the most creative commercials of the year, the halftime entertainment, the fighter jet flyovers and much more.
Will those viewers be thinking about cyber threats? Not likely. However, business owners can learn some valuable insights about cybersecurity from the Super Bowl.
The Game Plan
The NFL is one of the most successful businesses on the planet and the Super Bowl is its crowning achievement. The massive popularity of this event also makes it an attractive target for terrorists and cybercriminals.
“Cyber criminals could use a variety of tactics, techniques and procedures, including ransomware, social engineering campaigns, denial-of-service attacks, network intrusions by point-of-sale or malware to target the event,” concludes a 2023 threat assessment about the Super Bowl from the Department of Homeland Security. “A successful attack would likely receive widespread publicity, a goal of many threat actors,” it adds.
Small and medium-sized companies (SMBs) (companies with 250 or fewer employees) are increasingly targeted by cyber criminals. SMBs were the victims in the majority of cyberattacks in recent years, according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, creating $7 billion in losses for the year ending in 2021.
This is because SMBs don’t have the resources to implement and maintain company-wide security policies and procedures, making them ripe for cyberattacks. The most frequent targets are CEOs and CFOs and their assistants because they are most likely to email company leaders.
The stakes have never been higher, with many attacks being a potential company killer. Enter the rising popularity of outsourcing cybersecurity as a service (CSaaS). CSaaS integrates the best-of-breed security technologies and services, software and human expertise (security analysts) into a single, comprehensive and affordable service.
If you are the owner or leader of a SMB, you may be contemplating adding CSaaS to your playbook to protect your company and its assets. Here are five cyber security lessons to be learned from the big game that every business owner can score with.
1. The Best Defense is Good Offense
As the Roman general Vegetius wrote back in 356 B.C., if you want peace, prepare for war. Like a team with a stellar defensive line, business owners who arm their companies with a comprehensive CSaaS will be less vulnerable to cyberattacks. Instead of constantly being on the defensive against a multitude of cyber threats, employees can instead focus on winning in the marketplace. A cybercriminal only needs to access your network successfully just once to wreak havoc.
2. It’s Your Team
The top performers in the NFL have invested in new technologies to help them defeat their opponents. That’s because in a highly competitive league with fixed salary caps, the selection of talent can make or break a franchise. If coaches and talent scouts make the right choices, their teams’ fortunes can skyrocket. If they make poor choices, they’ll be watching the big game at home, just like the rest of us.
The latest technologies include biometrics and personality assessments, data analytics and predictive AI. Despite all these technological advances, the game is won or lost by people on the field of play. As long as people are involved, risk exists. This is why the team at BrightFlow Technologies recommends training your employees to spot various cyberattack strategies.
3. Winning Takes Vigilance
As with pro football, cybersecurity requires constant vigilance and attention to detail. While the Super Bowl is the high point of the season, both teams struggled through setbacks over many games to reach the championship. In business, it’s tempting to believe that having a single IT person on call will protect your most important asset — your business. But the fact is cybersecurity, the management of cyber risk, is never done, and you will need more than one team member to protect a company, its data and its reputation.
4. Protect Your Assets
Football is the ultimate team game, but not all positions are created equal. Given the importance of passing successfully, the quarterbacks are clearly the most important players on the field. However, several other positions are a close second.
- Designated pass rusher: Every team needs a defensive playmaker on the front line to disrupt the timing and rhythm of the passing game. Add in the ability to sack the quarterback or force fumbles, such a player is worth their weight in gold.
- Left tackle: Protecting the quarterback’s blindside is of prime importance. This is why NFL scouts are always on the hunt for nimble, big, strong men with great skill defeating defensive rushers.
- Wide receivers: The officiating changes limiting downfield contact with receivers have made wide receivers the top playmakers for most of offenses. So fast, agile, tall athletes that can leap like an NBA player to help turn a quarterback into a hero are always in high demand.
The team that does the best job recruiting, training and keeping these key players healthy throughout the season, stands a better chance of hoisting the Lombardi trophy during a team’s victory parade.
Likewise, in the business world, companies must identify their best “quarterback, pass rusher, left tackle and wide receiver.” For companies, the critical assets to protect and safeguard include bank accounts, data, identities, intellectual property and reputation. These five critical assets should be where all the energy is focused and money is spent, on elements like cybersecurity as a service.
5. Teamwork Means Everything
Businesses typically focus on their core competencies and outsource functions such as payroll, banking, logistics and other specialized skills. However, these third-party relationships can unwittingly pose a cyber threat by leaving the digital backdoor wide open. Organizations working with third-party vendors should clearly spell out their position on cybersecurity in all contracts and require regular audits for compliance.
Unfortunately, in our modern world, cyberattacks are not a matter of “if,” but “when.” Like football players, all companies will eventually get hit — and hit hard. The key to a company’s survival, and not dropping the ball, is being able to mitigate the damage and recover quickly, with no downtime. Software alone, like helmets and padding for players, is not enough to protect organizations from injury. Players and companies must play smart by using proper technology and techniques, while ensuring the entire team is on the same page.
Your Cybersecurity as a Service
If you need help with your company’s cyber defense playbook, don’t hesitate to reach out to the team at BrightFlow Technologies. We can help you protect your most important asset, your company, with cybersecurity as a service. Just reach out here.