Sport Adopts Tailored Cyber Security Education

Sport may be a national passion for millions of Australians, but that doesn’t protect sports organizations of all sizes from the growing threat of cyberattacks and cybercriminals looking for easy wins.

A single slip could erase a sports organization’s data, expose personal details and information, cancel competitions, lead to financial fraud, or cause devastating reputational damage.

Sport Integrity Australia, with input from the Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber ​​Security Center (ACSC) and the eSafety Commissioner, has developed a Cyber ​​Security in Sport course to help sports communities address cyber challenges and ultimately create a safer online environment -Create environment for all sports.

The course helps users:

• Identify the cyber security risks your organization faces and the impact of getting it wrong

• Identify what to do if hacked

• Protect their accounts and devices

• Understand what to do if someone experiences online abuse in their sport.

Alexis Cooper, Sport Integrity Australia’s Director of Education, said the course offers sports organizations an immediate opportunity to improve their knowledge of cybersecurity and online safety and to help protect their members.

“Cybersecurity for sports organizations is now more important than ever,” said Ms. Cooper. “From grassroots football clubs storing personal data to national organizations hosting and attending major international sporting events, inadequate cybersecurity can cripple sporting organizations.”

The Cyber ​​Security and Safety in Sport course used a range of case studies from sports organizations around the world to add relevance to cybersecurity content, Ms Cooper said, and included much-needed education about online abuse in sport and integrity threats, such as solutions.

“There are examples from across the sporting landscape, from the English Premier League to international athletics meetings to examples from community sports clubs in Australia, to educate sports organizations about the scenarios they might be facing,” Ms Cooper said.

The course is designed for people working in sport or volunteering – at all levels – to make them aware of the potential threats they may face.

“Unfortunately, people have many negative experiences online related to their involvement in sports. To address this, we have included information for sports organizations on how to respond to online abuse situations,” said Ms. Cooper.

“Social media direct messages have also provided an easy way for match fixers to reach out to athletes and administrators. It is therefore important that they are aware of how such advances can be made and what to do if this happens.”

Dan Tripovich, deputy director general for standards, technical advice and research at the Australian Cyber ​​Security Centre, said the recent spate of damaging cyber attacks in Australia underscores the importance of increasing cyber security.

“This is a ‘Team Australia’ moment where every club and every athlete has a role to play,” said Mr Tripovich. “The complexity and impact of cybercrime is increasing, which means every sports organization needs to work just as hard on their cybersecurity defenses as they do in sports.

“This course is helping sports organizations at a critical time given the high profile and highly damaging ransomware attacks in Australia over the past 12 months.”

Mr Tripovich said the average cost of a cybersecurity incident for a small business is now around $39,000 – something most sports organizations cannot afford to lose.

“By educating our sports organizations on what to look out for and how to respond to cyber threats, we can ensure everyone can achieve the important goal of more resilient privacy in our sports sector,” he said.

eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said online abuse can take an incalculable toll on attendees’ mental health, particularly when clubs face a spate of online abuse from disenchanted fans.

“Some of the abuses we see are personal, racist, misogynist, violent and even to the point of death threats. “This type of abuse is deeply damaging and can make participants feel unsafe, which affects their enjoyment and love of the game,” said Ms. Inman Grant.

“We want all Australians to know that eSafety serves as an online safety net and that we have the authority to eliminate serious online abuse.”

“With the potential to help millions of sport-loving Australians, this online safety learning module will provide individual clubs with the knowledge and skills to help participants who are experiencing abuse online.” This includes how to report serious abuse at eSafety.gov.au reports. I congratulate Sport Integrity Australia on their leadership and systemic approach to online safety education.”

The Cyber ​​Safety and Security in Sport e-learning course takes 45 minutes to complete and is available now on the Sport Integrity Australia e-learning platform.