Boston, MA – June 8, 2016 – Pwnie Express, the leader in connected device threat detection, today revealed its successful partnership with Norwich University to identify and neutralize connected device threats during Super Bowl 50.

As one of the most technologically capable stadiums in the world and home of Super Bowl 50, Levi’s Stadium has more than 1,2000 Wireless Access Points specifically designed to provide consistent, secure, on-demand connectivity to each of the 77,000+ guests. Norwich University, in partnership with local, state and Federal law enforcement, was tasked to provide direct cyber security and threat detection support at the venue during the international sporting event.

Norwich University selected Pulse, the Pwnie Express SaaS platform, to monitor and protect critical infrastructure and devices, as well as identify and alert on any malicious activity during the Super Bowl – including Denial of Service (DoS) attacks, Man in the Middle (MITM) attacks, card skimming, and rogue aerial drone activity. Designed to continuously and comprehensively discover wired, wireless, and Bluetooth devices in real time, Pwnie Express was chosen due to its ease of deployment, powerful real-time threat characterization engine and easy-to-use user interface.

“With five critical networks to monitor, it was crucial that we had a platform which could quickly show us what threats needed our attention immediately. With Pwnie we were able to see the full gamut of threats to the operational networks at Super Bowl 50 and focus our response activity accordingly,” said Phil Susmann, Norwich University’s Vice President of Strategic Partnerships.

Pwnie Express established a remote Security Operations Center (SOC) to monitor for any malicious device behavior, encryption levels changes, connections to insecure access points, introduction of malicious or rogue devices and other risky behavior, leading up to and during the event.

Key Findings

As the crowd of over 71,000 fans filed into the stadium, the Pwnie Express team observed the number of total wireless clients attached to the SB50 networks surge to over 55,000.

• Over 1,200 priority access points were detected – each of which provided wireless access via the free stadium Wi-Fi.
• Over 9 TB of data was used by fans from pre-game start to the post-game closing
• Over 35,000 Bluetooth devices were present. Increasingly, this type of technology is used to not only guide users to specific locations within a geographic area, but it can also be used to conduct malicious activity. Being able to see these devices in real time made it possible to validate appropriate device behavior.
• Several new open access points were detected during the game, a large number of which were high-definition cameras with the ability to therefore both capture and broadcast live content.
• An attempt to de-authorize a high-priority network being used by an event-critical organization was also detected.

 

“Ticket holders of major events like Super Bowl 50 pay a premium not just to see the game, but to enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” noted Paul Paget, CEO, Pwnie Express. “Increasingly, connected devices are part of that experience and can be instrumental to event success. Yet the challenges that major event IT staff have to address can be daunting. Providing a rich user experience which is adaptive, responsive and all inclusive – all while detecting and mitigating malicious behavior – may seem like an insurmountable task, but with full visibility at the forefront of the event’s cyber security strategy, achieving these objectives are well within the realm of the possible.”

This year, Super Bowl 50 was broadcast in more than 180 countries in 25 languages and was expected to reach over 115 million households in the US. In the process it also set records for attendance (71,088), data usage (>10 TB total), and both unique and concurrent WiFi users, making it both the most viewed event in history and one of the most connected and data-intensive. To learn more about Pwnie Express’ partnership with Norwich University, please download the full case study here https://www.pwnieexpress.com/super-bowl-50/.

 

About Pwnie Express

Pwnie Express provides the industry’s only solution for continuous detection, identification and classification of wireless, wired and Bluetooth devices putting organizations at risk. Connected devices in the enterprise represent one of the fastest growing threat landscapes, unaddressed by existing security solutions. Pwnie’s SaaS platform provides complete device coverage, including employee owned (BYOx), rogue, and company owned devices across the entire enterprise, including remote sites. Pwnie arms security teams with the visibility and control they need to address the risk from connected devices. To learn more about how Pwnie Express can help your organizations find the devices putting you at risk, visit www.pwnieexpress.com.

 

About Norwich University

Norwich University is a diversified academic institution that educates traditional-age students and adults in a Corps of Cadets and as civilians. Norwich offers a broad selection of traditional and distance-learning programs culminating in Baccalaureate and Graduate Degrees. Norwich University was founded in 1819 by Captain Alden Partridge of the U.S. Army and is the oldest private military college in the United States of America. Norwich is one of our nation’s six senior military colleges and the birthplace of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). www.norwich.edu