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09 November 2023

Famed NBA Franchise Leverages Bitdefender Managed Detection and Response and Advanced Endpoint Security Technology to Secure its Operations and Stop Cyberthreats Faster

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Bitdefender, a global cybersecurity leader, today announced it has been chosen by the San Antonio Spurs as an official partner of the historic NBA franchise. The Spurs will deploy Bitdefender MDR (managed detection and response) services integrated with Bitdefender GravityZone XDR (extended detection and response), an advanced security and risk analytics platform - to help protect its operations from cyberattacks. 

“We are pleased to choose Bitdefender as our cybersecurity provider and trusted partner, as our two brands share common values of teamwork and a commitment to excellence,” said Joe Loomis, senior vice president of finance, technology & culinary operations for Spurs Sports & Entertainment. “Cybercrime risks are a reality for all businesses, including professional sports. Having a cybersecurity pioneer with a solid reputation like Bitdefender in our corner to help prevent, detect, and respond to threats as they arise ensures our organization can operate at its best to provide unforgettable experiences to our fans all season long.”

As San Antonio is the home of its Security Operations Center (SOC) and MDR team, Bitdefender will engage in several marketing activities with the San Antonio Spurs including digital signage arena activations during games, private events for customers, and special promotions for fans to further drive its brand awareness.

The cybersecurity partnership is part of a wider initiative by the Spurs to incorporate powerful endpoint protection (EPP), XDR, and MDR services into its current environment to support their Zero Trust architecture implementation.   

Bitdefender MDR provides managed security operations that proactively assess and reduce risk, harden an organization’s environment against cyber threats, and deliver continuous monitoring of attack surfaces. This includes malware, zero-day vulnerabilities, phishing attempts and more across their network and endpoints, identity providers, cloud infrastructures and productivity applications – whether on-site, in the cloud, or in a hybrid environment. The services are driven by an elite team of cybersecurity analysts and threat hunters who lead alert validation and prioritization, threat analysis, and response actions.

The Spurs will strengthen their infrastructure security with GravityZone XDR, a native XDR solution designed to provide rich security context, correlation of disparate alerts, out-of-the-box analytics, rapid triage of incidents, and attack containment through automated and guided response actions across the entire environment.

The combination of Bitdefender GravityZone XDR technology and MDR services will help maximize the Spurs security and technology teams’ effectiveness to detect and stop threats faster, improve threat hunt efficiency, and strengthen cyber resilience of the franchise.

“Having access to powerful technology and high-level cybersecurity expertise is critical for stopping breaches and reducing overall business risk as cyberattacks evolve,” said Florin Talpes, co-founder and CEO of Bitdefender. “With many of the best and brightest minds in cybersecurity housed in our San Antonio SOC, this official partnership is a natural fit for Bitdefender. We look forward to working with the iconic San Antonio Spurs to help solve cybersecurity challenges off the court and further strengthen their security posture.”

For more information about the Bitdefender and San Antonio Spurs partnership visit www.bitdefender.com/spurs.

 

About Spurs Sports & Entertainment

Spurs Sports & Entertainment (SS&E) is a value-based and community-centric sports and entertainment company that provides premier live and global digital experiences for fans across a portfolio of three teams and two venues – all supported by a passionate staff of more than 1,000 full and part-time employees. SS&E owns and operates the San Antonio Spurs (NBA), Austin Spurs (NBA G League), and San Antonio FC (USL), as well as manages the day-to-day operations of the Frost Bank Center, Toyota Field and STAR Complex. In November 2021, SS&E broke ground on The Rock at La Cantera, a multiphase $500 million legacy project that will extend across 45 acres and feature a human performance research center, 22-acre park, a community outdoor event plaza and space for medical, hospitality and office use. The campus is home to the new Victory Capital Performance Center, a state-of-the-art training facility for the San Antonio Spurs, which opened in October 2023. The SS&E investor group is led by Managing Partner Peter J. Holt. 

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