The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 is underway and the event’s biggest concern seems to be a Russian cyberattack.
As the UK hosts the 2023 event for last year’s winners Ukraine in Liverpool, experts from the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) have been brought in to protect the competition’s public vote on Saturday.
The intelligence agency, which is part of GCHQ, has been asked to offer guidance on how to mitigate the risks of a potential cyberattack on voting systems by pro-Russian hackers or other bad actors.
Eurovision’s preparations for a potential cyberthreat from Russia are in a ‘really good place’ and organisers feel ‘very confident’ about their preparations, the BBC’s managing director of the event has said.
The broadcaster has been working with the European Broadcasting Union’s specialist team and the NCSC ahead of the week-long event in Liverpool.
The BBC’s Martin Green, who also led the Olympic ceremony at London 2012, said the best way to deal with any threat was ‘by making sure you are surrounded by the best’.
Mr Green said there had been ‘a lot of testing’ but said he was unable to share more specific details.
‘But we are in a really good place and I feel very, very confident about the rest of the week and what we have got out there,’ he added.
Last year, Italian police foiled plans by Russian hacker groups attempting to attack the semi-finals and final of the Eurovision Song Contest.
‘Targeting the voting system or transmission would be the obvious threats but with prior simulation of all possible attacks, the competition strongly stands a chance of bypassing a fatal blow,’ said Jake Moore, global cyber security advisor at ESET.
‘Quick thinking and tested response planning will act as a strong barrier on the night but not without large amounts of tension and pressure on all the teams.’
Martin Osterdahl, the EBU’s executive supervisor for Eurovision, also addressed its decision to partner with social media platform TikTok as official entertainment partner for a second year.
In March, the government banned staff from using TikTok on their work phones over fears that sensitive data could be leaked to China.
Mr Osterdahl said the EBU planned to review its partnership with TikTok when the current contract ends.
‘We review all our sponsorship agreements regularly and when they expire. We will do the same with TikTok. We will see what the situation is when that contract expires,’ he said.
He also confirmed people in Russia are effectively barred from voting in this year’s contest due to financial sanctions on the country making it impossible for them to pay the voting fee.
Russia was banned from competing in the contest last year after its invasion of Ukraine.
Its national broadcasters subsequently suspended their memberships of the EBU, which organises the show, preventing them from taking part in future contests.
But for the first time in the competition’s nearly seven-decade history, people from countries outside the contest are able to vote for their favourite act this year.
Their votes are converted into points that have the same weight as one participating country, potentially allowing some Russian citizens to sway the vote.
‘Some territories are subject to sanctions and to payment providers having suspended their operations and that includes Russia,’ Mr Osterdahl said.
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