The 50-day landmark before the kick-off of football’s 2010 World Cup is here and while a gloomy Europe waits for Icelandic volcanic ash to settle, South Africa’s President, Jacob Zuma, is all smiles as he confirms his country is ready to host the world’s premier sporting event.
Almost simultaneously, football fans have welcomed the initiation of the final phase of Fifa’s complicated ticket retailing process. Early indications, including an embarrassing IT systems overload, are that ticket sales, which were initially lethargic, are now living up to expectations.
Over the next seven weeks it is clear that tickets for the footballing spectacle will become the hottest properties around. Fifa’s stringent processes will limit nefarious “real world” activities like scalping and counterfeiting, but researchers from Symantec warn that the same does not necessarily hold true for cyberspace.
“Major sporting events provide a perfect cover behind which cybercriminals can launch sophisticated attacks on individuals, companies and governments. These range from simple identity theft to full-blown denial of service attacks,” the researchers say.
Symantec’s Global Intelligence Network identified the first 2010 World Cup-related threats more than a year ago and readers of 2010Netthreat.com have been able to follow the constant stream of malicious activity as kick-off approaches.
“The Beijing Olympics showed that we can expect World Cup-related scams to continue during and even after the event. Online users are advised to ensure their security software is up-to-date and that they remain vigilant,” the researchers warn.