5 Reasons Why Cybersecurity Is Crucial For Motorsports

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Cybersecurity is a popular topic these days, as almost all industries are affected by cyber threats somehow. Still, we rarely hear about it being discussed in the context of motorsports. In the past, we’ve explored the importance of cybersecurity for passenger cars, and in this article, we’re going to take a look at why it’s crucial for the motorsports business.

Yes, cybersecurity is crucial for the motorsports industry. Race teams must protect their trade secrets and intellectual property from hackers that want to steal them, as well as their competitors who want to undermine their competitive advantage. Motorsport is also a business, so financial and HR information must be protected from threats like ransomware. Lastly, cybersecurity is crucial because motorsports teams travel internationally, making their data more vulnerable.

Let’s take a closer look at why cybersecurity is vital to motorsports teams, event organisers, and track managers.

Is Cybersecurity Crucial For Motorsports?

Yes, cybersecurity is crucial even in the world of motorsports. These days, it’s impossible to find an industry that doesn’t rely heavily on computer systems or the internet to function efficiently. Because businesses are becoming increasingly connected, the risk of a cyberattack is always there.

The same is true in the world of motorsports as well. Not only do the organisers and race teams rely on technology for their administrative concerns, but even the vehicles themselves are also becoming increasingly connected.

Bottom line: anything connected to the internet, including race cars and other motorsports vehicles, faces some degree of cyber threat. So, cybersecurity is crucial to reduce the risk of anything negative happening as a result.

Now that we’ve seen that cybersecurity is crucial in the motorsports world, let’s look at five reasons why that is so.

#1 Ransomware

To start this list of cyber threats in the world of motorsports, we must first talk about ransomware. This term is widespread even in mainstream news because it’s a risk that all industries face, including all aspects of the motorsports industry.

Ransomware is a form of malware or malicious software. Simply put, a ransomware attack is when hackers take hold of a company’s data and deny access to its owners. Then, as the name suggests, the hackers hold the data hostage and will only release it when a ransom is paid.

The problem with this cyber threat is that taking a company’s data hostage prevents the business from functioning. So, what might that look like in the world of motorsports?

Well, imagine a world-class motorsports event like Formula One being forced to cancel a whole weekend worth of scheduled activities. That would mean a massive loss to everyone involved, from the organisers to the race teams, vendors, and of course, the fans who paid lots of money for their tickets.

With so much at stake during a planned motorsports event, the cyber threat of a ransomware attack is severe, and that’s why cybersecurity is crucial not only at the organisers’ level but also with individual race teams.

#2 Competitive Advantage

Race teams don’t just have to worry about anonymous hackers trying to steal their data for profit when it comes to cybersecurity. On top of that, they must also protect their data from those working for the other teams, i.e. their competitors.

Motorsports teams would have their own set of trade secrets, all of which combine to provide the team with their competitive edge. However, that information must not fall into the hands of competing teams, who might steal their ideas or use it to beat them during the race.

In this regard, cybersecurity doesn’t just protect a race team’s secrets from being stolen. It will also help control information access, limiting it to only those within the race team who have permission.

#3 Intellectual Property

Part of the trade secrets that a motorsports team must protect includes their intellectual property. Things such as vehicle design information, test data, and other forms of proprietary data must be kept safe from those who might want to steal them.

A motorsports team’s intellectual property isn’t just valuable to its competitors, as we saw earlier in #2. That information can also be of value to willing buyers beyond the world of motorsports, such as automotive manufacturers and similar businesses.

Remember: a lot of the innovation we see in production cars originated from the world of motorsports. But what does that mean?

It means that a motorsports team’s intellectual property and trade secrets also have value to other parts of the automotive industry, and dishonest companies would be willing to obtain that information through cyber theft.

#4 Business and HR Information

Motorsports events can be very intense and exciting, with lots of adrenaline pumping from start to finish. Events like Formula 1 happen at a large track with huge crowds, live musical performances, and countless vendors selling everything from food to merchandise.

But let’s not forget: behind the scenes, all of that is still a business just like any other. Because of that, cybersecurity is needed to secure confidential business information, including financial records and Human Resources (HR) information.

HR data includes lots of personal information on each employee, including the race car drivers themselves. So naturally, that kind of data can be very attractive to cybercriminals who will try to gain illegal access to it.

#5 Data Moves Internationally

So far, we’ve seen four reasons why cybersecurity is crucial in the world of motorsports. The final reason on this list affects all the previous ones and increases the risks tenfold: all of that data that requires extra security moves worldwide throughout the year.

You see, a typical business will have one or several permanent locations. As such, the company’s data is somewhat easier to control and keep secure.

However, in motorsports, huge motorsports events that take place worldwide, the situation is a little different. For example, wherever a race team travels, their data will have to be accessible from that location.

With international travel, digital devices might get lost, stolen, or even hacked by different people. The data on those devices might also more easily get intercepted when users rely on insecure internet or WiFi connections, such as at hotels or at the race track itself.

So, as you can see, cybersecurity is not only crucial for the race teams but also the race track as well.

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