Welcome to the 21st century where even sporting events have left their digital fingerprint on several mainstream events. As the NFL preps to host their first NFL Draft held entirely by video conferencing in a few weeks, it brings a plethora of potential problems.
But the most problematic possible event to occur?
Hackers.
Will Hackers Be a Problem for the NFL Draft?
It may sound premature to assume that hackers will seize the accounts of 32 teams on the draft day once the show starts, but it’s something the NFL should be aware of.
On Monday, Apr. 6, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced to all 32 teams that the draft would be held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, owners started to prepare their draft war rooms in a new location with Zoom capabilities to announce their picks.
However, Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said he’s a bit cautious with outside hackers trying to enter their videoconference.
“Yeah, it’s a big concern,” Harbaugh said to reporters during a conference call, according to Baltimore Sun’s Jonas Shaffer “Every time I read something in, like, the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times that talks about how messed up Zoom is, or some of these other deals — I immediately text it to our IT people, and [director of football administration] Nick Matteo’s one of those guys, and they assure me that we are doing everything humanly possible…”
Harbaugh’s concern is a real fear that should be taken seriously given how public the event is going to be in a few weeks. General Manager Eric DeCosta said that he feels more comfortable with Zoom than Ozzie Newsome with the handling of their draft board.
“I have more confidence in Zoom than I do in Ozzie [Newsome], John, Steve [Bisciotti, Ravens owner] and Dick Cass [Ravens Team President], with a copy of our draft board that they just leave in the car on their front seat or something like that,” DeCosta said.
Zoom to Beef up Security
While some teams have spoken up publicly about the concerns of being hacked, it’ll rest on the shoulders of Zoom to ensure the night goes smoothly as possible.
Zoom recently announced they have added new security measures such as passwords and waiting rooms to its users using their free tier service.
Teams Speaking Up
Even with these added security measures, Los Angeles Rams chief operating officer, Kevin Demoff, still has his doubts on how secure the draft rooms are going to be.
“Make sure your conversations are protected,” Demoff said to NBC Sports. “Someone could hack into this Zoom [interview], and you’re probably not going to learn a lot. Hacking into a team’s draft room on Zoom is probably a lot different.”
Just recently, Microsoft was a victim of hacking when their new console, Xbox Series X, was hacked and had their entire coding leaked with a ransom in place. Harbaugh would love nothing more for his draft room to operate without hiccups but is aware of the world being a victim of hackers.
“We’ll see what happens,” Harbaugh said. “I really wouldn’t want the opposing coaches to have our playbook or our draft meetings. That would be preferable if we can stay away from that.”
Main Photo:
Embed from Getty Images
