We’re just days away from Super Bowl Sunday, and the last thing that may be on the minds of many enterprise IT pros is how the big game might have an impact on their networks.
But that’s just what they should be worrying about, according to a new report. eSecurity Planet takes a look at the annoyances, problems and dangers that could result from users letting down their guard after the game and soaking up unfair amounts of bandwidth.
Quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Drew Brees will take their share of hits this coming Super Bowl Sunday, but IT departments should be on the defensive, as well. Network security firm Palo Alto Networks warns major events like this inevitably lead to big increases in bandwidth use and security issues the day after, if not longer.
“I think any time you have these kind of broad-based, cultural events, whether it’s the Super Bowl, March Madness, an election, the Grammys or Oscars or the Olympics, a lot of people tune in and when they get to work, they change the way they interact,” Chris King, director of product marketing at Palo Alto Networks,” told InternetNews.com. “They go to Facebook, Twitter and these other social networking sites to interact instead of the water cooler.”
And that interaction can lead to big jumps in bandwidth use, enough to affect a company’s network performance, as well as raise numerous security concerns.