>> as anticipation builds to the start of the world cup now coming up in just a few days, federal and local law enforcement have been actively working to ensure the safety of athletes and fans. but here in this age of tech, well, bad actors also target the digital world during major events like this, putting cyber security right there at the top of the priority list for countries all around the globe, especially here in the u.s. so let's talk about it with james sturgill, former fbi agent with the bureau, for more than two decades and now the vice president of global cyber risk at optiv. thank you so much for joining me once again, james. okay. so describe the scale of the digital threat when it comes to the world cup. >> well, great to be with you, heather. so this is, you know, the threat is this is like a target rich environment, if you can imagine. so we're talking about fake ticket scams, phishing email and text scams, fake mobile apps, what they call qr code fraud or quitting public wi fi attacks, digital wallet attacks, a lot of social media, different and different types of ticket attacks, and also to the to the extent of individuals traveling, it's travel and accommodation scams. so this is the, the barrage of you name, the different type of, of digital or digital threat or digital scam. unfortunately, you know, victims, there's a ton of victims out there and you've got a world, especially in the us and all of the individuals that are traveling who are so excited about going to these, these, you know, seeing their teams and going to these events. right. the last thing they're probably thinking about is, is a cyber attack, which makes them extremely vulnerable to threat actors. >> yeah. so are we already seeing these threat actors at work? >> oh, absolutely. absolutely. so you have a situation right now where there is thousands and i mean thousands of domains out there where threat actors have already set up different types of, of domains, whether it's it's ticket websites or whether it's accommodation websites, certainly different types of phishing and text scams where they're actually creating different qr codes. so all of those domains, the threat actors are out there, they are actively working and they've been working for some time now. >> yeah. so not waiting for the opening match, right. they, they are, they are already here. okay. so what we want people to do is to be prepared. how can they protect themselves and their data? >> yeah, absolutely. and it's really, really important. but before i get to that, also realize this is a national security special event, right? so imagine every year we have not this is not only a cyber threat, but it's also a national security event, right? we have a super bowl every year. that's a national security special event, level one. so imagine we've got 78, probably super bowls in 16 cities over the next 40 days. so there's a whole physical aspect to this. but people really before they before they travel, right. need to make certain. right. buy tickets only from official channels, right. download the apps from the apple store or google play store, enable multi-factor authentication, and be vigilant while you're traveling. if you're traveling from city to city, right, you need to avoid clicking links in unsolicited on unsolicited emails or text messages, right? there's specific things that you should do while you're at the stadium, right? keep your phone locked with your biometrics or a pin. disable bluetooth when it's not needed, right? never hand your phone to strangers. right? claiming they need to verify your ticket and make certain right for the payment aspect of this. right. people victims are constantly pressured. they you know, they want you to pay in cryptocurrency. they want you to do wire transfers. threat actors will want you to pay for your tickets and gift cards. that's a complete scam, right? so you need to be vigilant and you need to think about the different types of security that you need for your payments, different types of security at the stadium, certainly while you're traveling. but, but absolutely maintain these practical tips i've talked about. >> yeah, i mean, that really is a good, you know, description when you said, you know, all of these super bowl sized events, right, that are happening. but another interesting, interesting point is that when you talk about the different levels of security, when things are kind of uneven, when it comes to security, let's say if you're taking transit or, or these apps to get the tickets. >> yeah. no, absolutely. and so again, making sure that you're utilizing the travel app and, and verifying it, if the app looks strange or you've used the, you know, in previous instances and it doesn't look the same as it, as it used to, right? delete it, go back and redownload it from the apple store or from the google app store to make certain that you've got the official one, because there are all types of, of scams where you have individual threat actors who are able to infiltrate and provide, you know, different levels of, of threats inside those apps as well. and so you need to be vigilant about to make sure you have the official
