Professional athletes and sporting organisations face a multitude of threats in the 21st Century. Due to the ever-increasing global audience for each and every sport, combined with the associated financial benefits, the sports industry is a prime target for criminals, terrorist organisations, political activists, cyber hacktivists and other groups.
To ensure athletes, organisations, sports venues, tournaments and events are appropriately secured against these potential threats GSI provides the full spectrum of Protective Intelligence services for its clients.
risk AssessmentS
Prior to an athlete or sports organisation embarking on an overseas tour or competing in an event/tournament on foreign soil, GSI provides bespoke Risk Assessments to ensure clients are aware of potential threats and can mitigate against these before departure. GSI takes account of the potential threat of physical harm from domestic groups that may target the client for financial, political or publicity gain.
GSI also provides a unique service to high-profile athletes and their respective organisations called an Online Profile Threat Assessment (OPTA). OPTAs are in-depth investigations of an athlete or organisation's online profile conducted for the purposes of identifying possible vulnerabilities which could be exploited by nefarious individuals/groups. By providing an exhaustive account of a clients' potential vulnerability to threats from likely protagonists, clients are able to adjust their online profile accordingly, to safeguard their physical, online and reputational security.
clients include:
- Athletes/organisations in the planning stages of an overseas tour or tournament, competition, training programme abroad
- High-profile athletes concerned their online profile, and information available in open sources, could be used by criminal elements to conduct hostile activity against them or their family
- Organisations concerned that competitors may seek to identify information about their activities for the purposes of gaining an unfair or illegal advantage
Case Studies of how Risk Assessments could have protected athletes
Online Monitoring (Traditional Media, Social Media and Cyber)
By employing the latest online tools and techniques, GSI is able to collate and analyse online discussion relating to our clients and provide insightful summaries and timely alerts when required. This service is used to protect clients from potential physical threats (e.g. political instability during a tournament overseas) and also reputational threats (e.g. negative online discussion regarding an athlete or organisation that has the potential to ‘go viral’). GSI also monitors for evidence of clients being targeted by cyber groups that may be targeting them for competitive advantage, financial gain or political purposes.
clients include:
- Athletes/organisations currently competing overseas
- Athletes/organisations with a well established or growing reputation/brand that is susceptible to online discussion
- High-profile athletes that may be the target of criminal elements for financial gain
I.T / Cyber Vulnerability Assessments
Industrial espionage and the targeting of athletes and sports organisations by hacktivists is an increasingly common problem. To ensure our clients’ I.T infrastructure and web-facing content is secure from threats posed by sporting competitors and criminal elements, GSI conducts rigorous assessments of potential vulnerabilities. These assessments are then used as the basis of developing a more secure I.T and web-facing infrastructure to safeguard athlete performance data and corporate information going forward.
clients include:
- Athletes/organisations that have an online presence
- Organisations that maintain athlete performance data
- Athletes/organisations that keep the majority of their corporate information on computer
Case Studies of how Risk Assessments could have protected athletes
Bespoke Investigations
When clients require a specific investigation into a particular individual, organisation or issue that has the potential to disrupt its performance on or off the field, GSI provides a discreet investigation service tailored specifically to the issue at hand. GSI is able to collect all the information necessary and deliver an insightful analysis suitable to the issue and intended audience with the overall effect being the client being in possession of all the information needed to make the right decision.
CLIENTS INCLUDE:
- Organisations that have an internal issue that warrants neutral, third party, discreet investigation
- Organisations currently engaged in, or contemplating, taking legal action and require useable evidence to support their case
- Athletes/organisations that require information on a certain stakeholder that they are unable to retrieve themselves