Companies warned about 'March Madness' fallout

Computerworld - This month's NCAA men's college basketball tournament will translate into security risks and network slowdowns for businesses, a San Diego company warned.

Dubbed "March Madness," the 64-team tournament, which officially gets under way March 15, is one of the world's most widely watched sporting events and will fuel almost $4 billion in wagers before it wraps up April 2.

An explosion in the number of sports and gambling Web sites, along with a major increase in high-bandwidth features, such as real-time scores and streaming video, pose a threat to businesses, said Websense. The number of sports-related Web sites is up 31% over last year, while online gambling sites have grown by 56% since March 2006. Put the two together, and "midsize companies can expect to see a considerable drain on employee productivity and network bandwidth during the NCAA tournament," Websense said.

Online gambling, even with recent crackdowns on the practice in the U.S., is huge. According to estimates, approximately $1.3 billion will be gambled during the tournament at online sports books. An estimated $2.4 billion will be wagered illegally, and another $90 million will be bet in Las Vegas.

Corporations and users should also expect hackers to take advantage of buzzer-beater fever, said Websense. Last month, for example, the Web site of the stadium hosting the Super Bowl was hacked and used to deliver malicious code to unsuspecting visitors. In July 2006, criminals set up a fictitious site that looked like the official FIFA World Cup URL; that site was used to spread malware, too.

Historically, identity theft campaigns have also tied themselves to sporting, including bogus come-ons for World Cup tickets and e-mails trying to trick buyers of NASCAR merchandise on online auction house eBay.

According to Nielsen/NetRatings (download PDF), more people visited sporting sites while at work than from home during 2006's NCAA tournament. At-work NCAA sites attracted nearly 5.9 million unique visitors on the second day of the tournament compared to 4.8 million at home. Traffic was also up dramatically last year over 2005, with some sites -- notably CBS' SportsLine.com, which will again offer free video streaming of out-of-market games -- posting growth rates as high as 76%.

Fans can register now at the NCAA's Web site to watch on-demand video during the tournament.