Soccer fans have been warned of the risk of cybercrime at the Qatar World Cup.
Henry Wilkinson, the chief intelligence officer at security intelligence firm Dragonfly, has warned fans and businesses involved in the World Cup that they are at an increased risk from online crime.
He said: “There has been an increase in malicious online scams and phishing campaigns around international sporting events in recent years.
“Given the global popularity of the Fifa World Cup and the high demand for tickets and travel, cyber-criminals will probably pursue similar activities over the next few months.
“There has already been a spike in newly-registered websites impersonating the Fifa 2022 World Cup page, showing that phishing campaigns are already up and running.”
Wilkinson believes that these activities will increase in the coming months, with the World Cup due to begin in November.
He told Sky News: “We expect this to increase in the coming months ... we expect phishing campaigns to revolve around the sale of tickets, travel and accommodation at ‘discounted’ prices ... the installation of fake World Cup-related apps, malicious links offering promotional deals and illegal football streaming sites embedded with malware.”
Wilkinson has also warned businesses that they will face a more sophisticated cyber threat.
He said: “These companies hold large amounts of customer data, and will therefore be perceived as financially-lucrative targets by cyber-criminal groups.
“These groups are increasingly using coercive methods to extract payments from businesses. For example, cyber groups such as LockBit encrypt and disrupt access to victims’ systems, and then threaten to publish sensitive company information online (known as double-extortion).
“Businesses involved with the logistics of the Qatar World Cup should watch out for, and prepare for, cyberattacks in the coming months.”
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