In this modern world, staying safe online is paramount for all involved. Cyber attacks are becoming increasingly common in all sectors, with hackers stealing data from companies in the hope of scamming customers with mobile calls and emails that appear genuine.Why Is It Important to Strengthen Cyber Security?Security Initiatives to Overhaul ChangesAre There Still Blind Spots to Address?Related articles
There is pressure on organizations to protect their customers, and that is no different when it comes to the horse racing industry.
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Sensitive information, such as connections information from Breeders’ Cup prep races could be damaging for those involved, meaning measures are in place to protect those involved in the equine sport. But, how is the issue being addressed in the racing sector?
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Why Is It Important to Strengthen Cyber Security?
The horse racing industry has worked tirelessly to improve its cyber security in modern history, transitioning from reactive IT troubleshooting to board-led strategic frameworks.
The systems used in horse racing have historically been regarded as a soft target due to an overreliance on legacy platforms and a time-sensitive infrastructure. This means that ticketing systems, betting networks and sensitive horse-health databases have been common targets for hackers.
However, a major shift in the approach taken towards security was made following the ransomware attack on the British Horseracing Authority in June 2025.
The impact from the attack was devastating, with the BHA’s London office closed, leading to a response that saw the governing body launch an investigation with external cyber security specialists. However, the impact could have been severely worse, as the attack didn’t affect any internal systems and no race days and fixtures around the Epsom Derby period were impacted.
Racing is far from alone. Ransomware is rising across sectors, as our report on a 53% year-on-year surge in ransomware attacks shows.
Security Initiatives to Overhaul Changes
Following the cyber security breach in 2025, governing bodies in horse racing across the world moved to strengthen their systems. That included network segregation. Racing have relied on security partners such as ANSecurity to pioneer a new approach to tackling the threat of cyber attacks, as they have been tasked with strengthening network segregation and isolating critical systems. This limits the lateral movement during a breach.
Phishing emails have also become a regular problem in the racing industry, with syndicate managers typically being a common target. This has seen the racing industry move from code-based multi-factor authentication to phishing-resistant MFA, such as hardware-based security keys and cryptographic authentication, to ensure that individual entry points are more secure than ever.
Unlike other businesses, horse racing also invests in mini threat emulation exercises, as a digital outage would be more damaging for the sector when compared to others. In fact, an outage could have a hugely damaging impact on the multi-million pound race days, creating seismic financial damage to the industry.
Therefore, the new approach of tackling and testing simulated ransomware scenarios has proven successful. The BHA now have a predefined incident response playbook, which enables racing to continue as normal without the risk of any disruption.
The response has also led to a stronger ‘human layer’ of security. Increased numbers of staff have been hired by governing bodies in racing to assess equine performance metrics, connections information and other important factors to standardize the process. Educated staff includes giving employees the information required to notice malicious billing requests that could be acting as transport invoices and bloodstock agents.
Are There Still Blind Spots to Address?
The ever-evolving world of cyber security never stands still, meaning that hackers are continuously coming up with new ways to try and cheat the system. Therefore, all industries need to remain vigilant and up to date with the latest trends to eliminate potential blind spots.
There are a couple of areas that the industry will attempt to strengthen during the rapid digital modernization.
One is Shadow AI, a risk across many industries. It typically comes from staff feeding data through third-party tools, meaning that vet records, horse health parameters and legal contracts could all be vulnerable on tools that lack corporate data governance.
Steps continue to be taken to help fine-tune the process, with the BHA relying on third-party support chains and start-ups to manage equine gait analysis and track surface analytics. Ensuring that these remain as secure as possible is vitally important for the industry, otherwise it could act as a back-door entry point to the wider racing infrastructure when it comes to the security measures that have been put in place.
However, the industry has taken excellent steps to strengthen cybersecurity defences. The decision to move away from siloed IT management, which elevates the risk, to rely instead on executive boardrooms has given the sector the agility required to sustain operations despite the ongoing risk of potential digital attacks.
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Elias VirtanenCybersecurity AnalystElias Virtanen is the Cybersecurity Analyst at Tech Insider, bringing hands-on expertise from his background in penetration testing and security consulting. He previously worked as a security researcher at F-Secure in Helsinki, where he focused on threat intelligence and vulnerability disclosure. Elias covers ransomware trends, zero-trust architecture, and the evolving regulatory landscape including NIS2 and the EU Cyber Resilience Act. He holds a CISSP certification and an MSc in Information Security from Aalto University.View all articles
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