The National Cyber Security Centre is urging football fans to secure their online platform streaming accounts and subscriptions

• The National Cyber Security Centre, which is part of GCHQ, warns online hackers could break into football fans’ accounts to carry out ‘phishing’ scams
• Top Cyber Aware tips include how to put a strong password in place and completing device updates that keep accounts safe from hackers

FOOTBALL fans have been warned of cyber threats when they swap their tickets for TV subscriptions – and been advised how to watch behind-closed-doors games as safely as possible.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has shone a light on online criminals who could hack into accounts by guessing passwords that are obvious or have been compromised in the past. The organisation previously revealed that almost 700,000 accounts have been compromised through hackers guessing a device’s passwords as ‘liverpool’, ‘chelsea’ or ‘arsenal’.

As well as illegally watching the game the victim has paid for, the hackers could make unauthorised purchases on the platform or look to find personal information that could be used for further scams – including targeting them with scam emails or phone calls.

There have been reports of similar attacks when other television subscription models have launched with more people spending time at home in the coronavirus outbreak.

The NCSC has urged fans to take some basic steps, which form part of the NCSC’s Cyber Aware behaviours, to keep their accounts secure. This includes creating a password that is made of three random words, and ensuring you download the latest update for apps on devices streaming the games.

Last year the NCSC exposed the most compromised passwords in the world – with 23.2 million accounts breached by hackers guessing the password ‘123456’.

The organisation also revealed hundreds of thousands of compromised accounts were protected using popular football team names (liverpool 280,723; chelsea 216,667; arsenal 179,095; manutd 59,440 and everton 46,619).

With the season now back, fans can secure their viewing experience by:

• Refreshing accounts: It’s a great time for fans to consider resetting their password. We’re increasingly seeing hackers use credentials stolen in past security incidents to hijack streaming accounts using the same compromised details. If you’re using the same password for your sports streaming accounts that you’ve used multiple times in the past – it’s time for a reset.
• Setting a strong password: We recommend using a password that’s separate to your email password and made up of three random words. You can then save this strong password in the browser so you don’t have to worry about remembering it.
• Updating streaming apps: Cyber criminals exploit weaknesses in apps to access your sensitive personal data. Providers regularly issue patches to these exploits in updates – you’re vulnerable without them so we urge every fan to make sure their streaming apps are updated. To make it simple going forward, we recommend turning on automatic updates.