The World Hockey Championships will start in Tampere and Helsinki next Friday.
Tampere’s Nokia Arena is the main venue for the World Cup. Russia and Belarus are excluded from international hockey. Petri Saarelainen / AOP
The situation in Finland is more tense than usual, with Russia waging an offensive war in Ukraine and significant progress being made in NATO projects in Finland and Sweden.
Among other things, the Prime Minister Sanna Marin (sd) considers it possible that Russia could target “all kinds of malice” on Finland and Sweden.
At the World Cup, Russia would gain a large international audience for its protests and harassment.
Director General of the Cyber Security Center Sauli Pahlman notes that it is not known what harassment Russia is planning to do in connection with the Games – or whether it is planning anything.
– There is no prior knowledge that the World Hockey Championships will be a special target for cyber-influencing, he says.
– On our radar, this has not been seen on top.
Pahlman points out that previous championships in both hockey and football, for example, have been peaceful in this respect, even if they have been accompanied by political tension.
– Sport may be a rather neutral area that is allowed to be at peace from such expressions.
The objects of cyber influence would be functions with a digital dimension. At a general level, Pahlman estimates that such could be, for example, online ticket sales or live streaming over the network.
– A denial of service attack, of course, has the potential to disrupt event processes. If you’re going on-site to see, then getting prepared is reasonably easy: even take a screenshot of your mobile ticket in advance.
Backup process
The websites of the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense were attacked in April.
– From the point of view of the race organizers, it is of course good to be prepared for the fact that this can also happen against the race organization or parts of it. However, I cannot judge how attractive or important it would be for Russia or any other country to make such an attack, Pahlman says.
– At a general level, it can be said that in such a situation there are such circumstances that the organizers of the race should consider whether, for example, a backup process should exist.
Cooperation
Heikki Hietanen serves as general secretary of the World Cup. The race organization cooperates with the authorities. So far, nothing special has come up in security matters.
– Not really, more than that we have become aware of it and tried to prepare for it (possible harassment), Hietanen says.
The IIHF and the World Cup organization do not raise the war in Ukraine separately at match events. For example, the national anthem of Ukraine has also been heard in some NHL games, but there is nothing planned for Ukraine in the World Cup.
– You will not see, they are not participating in this World Cup. In that sense, there is no such thing for a race organization, Hietanen says.
At major sporting events, it is always possible to see strong statements at competition venues. Russia’s war of aggression may be a topic that also comes to the fore in the World Cup. According to Hietanen, this will be addressed if necessary.
– As the organizers of the race, we have to work with the authorities to address the provocations, whatever they may be. We want to keep the races safe and avoid various provocations.