Big prime-time sporting events are also prime time for breaches. Here is the mechanism.
People want to watch live and do not want to pay for a livestream. Unsavoury types take advantage of that by offering trojan-horse “viewers” – so while the event streams and the user is thoroughly distracted, the computer is quietly being taken over.
This is measurable, not theoretical
Asked about this by UNILAD ahead of a major fight:
“I work with a number of small and medium sized businesses and their IT support and it is normal for there to be a sharp spike in the number of malware detections from ‘viewers’ being downloaded onto corporate systems around the time of high-profile sports events.”
Why this is a corporate problem, not a personal one
It is obviously a concern for corporate systems directly. But it is just as much a concern for home systems, which usually have less robust security in place.
Beyond the obvious – people often do their personal banking on the same machine – those systems are frequently used for remote access to corporate assets, and can act as a conduit for malware straight into your environment.
And doing it on a device owned by your employer risks your data, your employer’s data, and quite possibly your job.
The best option is to pay a licensed provider, or simply wait. The outcome of the match is the same whether you see it now or later.
Itwerx Corp is a service-disabled veteran-owned small business providing IT services across Seattle, Bellevue, Everett and Snohomish County. This is the kind of thing our cybersecurity work deals with – talk to us about yours.
