In today\u2019s digital realm, most fans experience Wimbledon off the field. Hence, Wimbledon must leverage its digital platform to deliver that great experience through its website, mobile app, TV, social media, etc. [2]. The Wimbledon website had 436 million page-views<\/strong> in 2017, a 10% increase from 2016 [3]. (Figure 1). With this massive \u201cdigital\u201d fan base, comes the increases risk of cybercrime as well and hence, a cyber-attack during the game, disrupting Wimbledon\u2019s digital platform, would really hurt Wimbledon\u2019s 141-year-old reputation. As a result, the need of a cyber resilience tool which utilizes machine learning and artificial intelligence to stay a step ahead of these cyber-attacks is heightened.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s not just the volume of attacks that is mind boggling, it is the deceptive nature of attacks that is more concerning. Usually most of the attacks would be released to trick the security operations analyst (and automated tools) into focusing their energy on a part of the system, while at the same instant, unknown to the analyst, some completely other part of the Wimbledon digital backbone is being targeted. This is what is defined as \u201clow and slow\u201d coordinated attack [5]. A security analyst would not be able to able to correlate these data points manually without the help of a SIEM tool.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n IBM Watson to the rescue<\/strong><\/p>\n IBM has been the official Information Technology partner to the Wimbledon for 29 years [6]. In 2017, IBM brought in Watson (integrated with QRadar \u2013 IBM\u2019s Security Information and Event Management tool), a supercomputer that uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to analyze data points, to assist the security operations at Wimbledon to investigate 200 million events<\/strong> and help identify, detect and protect against the potential threats during the tournament, with speed and accuracy [7].<\/p>\n The entire infrastructure (QRadar + Watson) brought together and correlated data, in real-time, from over thousands of connected endpoint devices and peripherals on the platform and populated the QRadar threat matrix and dashboard. This dashboard provided the security analyst the complete picture of the attack and a set of steps and recommendations that should be initiated to mitigate the cyber threat. In some instances, Watson was able automatically invoke other connected components on the network to derail the attack [8].<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The results were fantastic. IBM QRadar with Watson was able to correlate huge volume of events 60 times faster than an average human security analyst<\/strong>. This translated into 5 times more number of events being analyzed<\/strong>. More importantly, this resulted in ZERO successful breaches<\/strong> impacting the Wimbledon website [10].<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Going Forward at Wimbledon<\/strong><\/p>\n Cyber-criminals are looking for different and creative ways to evade technology \u2013 either by developing new malware that can detect correlation activities and stay in a \u201chibernation\u201d mode awaiting the right moment to execute, or by targeting the less skilled humans in the organization [11]. The attackers only have to be successful once while the power-combo of a security analyst with IBM Watson, at Wimbledon, has to stay on top of every attack each time. Going forward, the executive management at Wimbledon should start increasing the overall awareness about cybersecurity and its potential threat, not only internally, but also to its fan base, while continuing their ongoing investment in the technology to protect their brand from a bad cyber day. It\u2019s a continuous improvement process and not just something that could be easily accomplished within the two-week period when the tournament is on.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Future?<\/strong><\/p>\n With the exponential advancement in, and the ease of access of machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities, cybersecurity is not just a problem related to the IT department anymore. Today, cybersecurity touches every single business unit within an organization \u2013 including an organization\u2019s C-Suite and the Board. But are the Boardrooms sufficiently prepared to address the rapidly growing cyber risk and integrate cybersecurity into the organization\u2019s overall business strategy and make sure the organization is not left operationally paralyzed when a cyber event knocks on their door?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n (Word Count: 769)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n [1] Wimbledon History \u2013 1870s, http:\/\/www.wimbledon.com\/en_GB\/aboutwimbledon\/history_1870s.html<\/a><\/p>\n [2] Wimbledon serves more AI in 2018, Elizabeth O’Brien, June 2018, https:\/\/www.ibm.com\/blogs\/game-changers\/wimbledon-serves-ai-2018\/<\/a><\/p>\n [3] IBM at Wimbledon 2018, June 2018, https:\/\/www.ibm.com\/thought-leadership\/wimbledon\/uk-en\/<\/a><\/p>\n [4] IBM at Wimbledon 2018, June 2018, https:\/\/www.ibm.com\/thought-leadership\/wimbledon\/uk-en\/<\/a><\/p>\n [5] Wimbledon 2017: Manicured Lawns, Ivy-Covered Buildings, Tennis Whites and Cyberattacks, \u00a0Johnathan Van Houten, July 2017, https:\/\/securityintelligence.com\/news\/wimbledon-2017-manicured-lawns-ivy-covered-buildings-tennis-whites-and-cyberattacks\/<\/a><\/p>\n [6] IBM at Wimbledon 2018, June 2018, https:\/\/www.ibm.com\/thought-leadership\/wimbledon\/uk-en\/<\/a><\/p>\n [7] Wimbledon 2017: Protecting the oldest brand in tennis with the latest in cognitive security, 2017, https:\/\/www.ibm.com\/case-studies\/wimbledon-2017<\/a><\/p>\n [8] Cybersecurity Behind the Scenes at Wimbledon, Eleanor Dallaway, August 2017, https:\/\/www.infosecurity-magazine.com\/news-features\/cybersecurity-behind-the-scenes-at\/<\/a><\/p>\n [9] IBM Security helps Wimbledon focus on the court, not the cloud, IBM Security (YouTube Channel), October 2017, https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=m-hq2aOMeuE<\/a><\/p>\n [10] Wimbledon 2017: Protecting the oldest brand in tennis with the latest in cognitive security, 2017, https:\/\/www.ibm.com\/case-studies\/wimbledon-2017<\/a><\/p>\n [11] Challenges Facing Using AI in Cybersecurity, Ahmed Banafa, March 2018, https:\/\/www.bbvaopenmind.com\/en\/challenges-facing-using-ai-in-cybersecurity\/<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/11\/Viewership-Stats.png\")
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