2026 World Cup to Elevate Cyberattack and Operational Disruption Risks for Businesses

In anticipation of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, one of the global events with the greatest economic and digital impact, businesses in Mexico will face a significant increase in cybersecurity and business continuity risks, warned Lockton Mexico, the world’s largest independent insurance broker and consultant. Events of this magnitude typically trigger a rise in digital fraud, phishing attacks, credential theft, identity impersonation, and system saturation, leveraging the high volume of transactions, promotional campaigns, and intensive use of digital platforms by both consumers and employees.

“The World Cup not only represents a commercial opportunity; it also serves as a true stress test for companies’ technological infrastructure. Organizations lacking well-structured cybersecurity and business continuity plans may face operational disruptions, financial losses, and reputational damage,” stated Ricardo Millán, Head of ProExec at Lockton Mexico.

According to IBM Security data, the average global cost of a data breach remains at historically high levels, while Kaspersky has documented that major international events often coincide with peaks in cyberattacks, particularly fraud related to tickets, fake platforms, and malicious emails.

Furthermore, World Economic Forum data identifies cyberattacks and critical service disruptions as some of the main global risks for organizations, especially in highly digitized environments with interconnected supply chains.

Ricardo Millán emphasized that business preparation must go beyond isolated technological solutions: “Managing these risks requires a comprehensive vision that combines prevention, response plans, operational continuity, employee training, and risk transfer. Companies that anticipate these challenges will be able to operate with greater operational resilience during the World Cup and in any other scenario of high digital exposure.”

Lockton’s Recommendations for Protecting Business Continuity

Given this scenario, Lockton recommends that companies anticipate the 2026 World Cup and strengthen their preparation through a comprehensive approach that combines technology, processes, people, and risk transfer. Key actions include:

• Assess cyber and operational exposure: conduct risk diagnostics to identify vulnerabilities in systems, critical processes, suppliers, and supply chains. The latter is critical due to recent attack trends.
• Update business continuity and disaster recovery plans, incorporating specific scenarios associated with high-digital-exposure events, such as traffic spikes, technological failures, or coordinated attacks.
• Strengthen incident response protocols, defining responsibilities, decision flows, and internal and external communication channels to act swiftly in case of an attack or disruption.
• Train and raise employee awareness, as the human factor remains one of the primary entry points for cyberattacks. It is crucial to train teams to identify malicious emails, fraudulent links, fake websites, and potential social engineering attempts.
• Establish clear guidelines for remote work, travel, and device usage, especially during the World Cup period, when the use of public networks and personal devices increases.
• Review insurance schemes, such as Cyber or Crime insurance and business interruption coverage, to help mitigate the financial impact of a technological incident.

“Business continuity no longer depends solely on technology but on the comprehensive preparation of the organization. The combination of prevention, training, and risk transfer is key to operating with resilience during the World Cup and in the face of any other high-exposure event,” added Ricardo Millán.

Lockton Mexico emphasizes that companies adopting a preventive and strategic view of risk will not only be better prepared for the 2026 World Cup but will also strengthen their response capabilities for future disruption scenarios. It is of utmost importance to engage with a specialized consultant in this field who, while assisting in structuring insurance programs, also provides support in analyzing and/or remediating existing vulnerabilities and areas of opportunity. The article

first appeared on Líder Empresarial.