Taking the 'March Madness' out of your network security
It’s March which can only mean one thing in the world of sports here in the United States: March Madness is here!
Unfortunately, while the popularity of March Madness has grown, nearly every aspect of any employee’s involvement with the three-week event could open up the employee, as well as the business, to any number of cyber risks.
Just as thieves target regularly visited locations that provide a target rich environment, so do the online crooks behind malware. Thieves hang out near the watering holes that draw the victim because it is easier than hunting the prey outright. March Madness is one major event in the U.S. which provides that easy-to-access watering hole for online criminals.
It’s a given. Every year, events such as March Madness bring a number of information security threats to the forefront. A few of the key threats you can expect to see during this year’s event include (but are not limited to):
- Rogue apps across multiple platforms that promise score and bracket updates but are designed to deliver advertising, or worse, malware
- Phishing attacks targeting users following their brackets on popular websites such as ESPN, CBS Sports, and Yahoo
- Links posted in forums, comments, and social media that promise March Madness info or streams, but only direct the user to an infected site
- Thousands of drive-by and download and install malware infections from March Madness related sites, both authentic and spoofed
- Several enterprises across the country experiencing production impacting bandwidth issues due to users streaming games during work hours
- Malware camouflaged as video players that allow users to stream the games
- A flood of bogus betting sites used to steal the credit card info of unsuspecting users
With all of these threats in place, it’s absolutely understandable that the IT staff could be driven utterly mad by March Madness.
So what can be done by organizations of all sizes to help lessen these issues? What options do IT staff and corporate management have in place to protect themselves and the organization?
First, you need to decide which of these activities employees will be permitted to do during March Madness:
- Setting and viewing prediction brackets
- Reading news and information on the tournament
- Streaming the games from online sources
Many organizations put up televisions to allow employees to view the games throughout the day so that multiple users aren’t using bandwidth to stream the games. Other organizations block the streams, or even going so far as to block access to all sports sites in general.
Unfortunately, these actions can have repercussions and drive many employees towards sites that have been designed to target those that are blocked from traditional sources.
It is very important that security and IT staff are making employees aware of the potential threats posed by events such as March Madness. Encourage employees to practice extra due diligence.
- Don’t click on links within emails from March Madness sites.
- Visit the site by directly typing the URLs into the browser.
- Most importantly do not install any software from any March Madness related sites.
March Madness is upon us and it won’t be over until the nets are cut down following the championship game on April 4 in Houston, Texas.
Until then, may your network and devices continue to be safe and may your bracket be the one that wins the office pool!
About the Author: Mark Parker has a unique knack for taking very technical concepts and presenting them in a manner that is understandable to a novice. Prior to his role of Senior Product Manager at iSheriff, Parker held senior product strategy and engineering roles at ContentKeeper Technologies, Trustwave and M86 Security.
