What Counter-Terrorism Taught the NFL About Cyber Risk

What Counter-Terrorism Taught the NFL About Cyber Risk

Author: Brave Software July 15, 2026 Duration: 18:36

Kam Karaji, Director of Cyber Security & Risk Management at the NFL, shares what 13 years in counter-terrorism and criminal intelligence taught him about protecting high-stakes environments, and discusses how that thinking now shapes security across five countries and 70,000-person stadiums. He explains why a venue full of fans is really just a very large computer, and why the data a fan hands over the moment they buy a ticket is more time-sensitive than most people realize.

Key Takeaways:

  • How the NFL manages fan data across different legal jurisdictions, and why that data becomes time-sensitive the moment the league leaves a country

  • Why the biggest security investment leaders should be making right now isn't in technology

  • How a single piece of player misinformation can trigger a chain reaction from betting markets to a club's bottom line

  • Why a stadium full of fans is really a cybersecurity problem (and what happens when that computer gets hacked)

Guest Bio:

Kam Karaji leads cyber security and risk management for the NFL's international programme, protecting games, venues, and people across Europe, the Americas, and beyond. Before moving into the corporate world, he spent over thirteen years in law enforcement as a police officer and Bronze Commander, working in criminal intelligence, counter-terrorism and international firearms training with the UK's National Crime Agency (service that earned him gallantry recognition for the protection of the British Royal Family).

Today his focus is the human side of security in an increasingly automated world. As AI reshapes how organizations assess risk, train teams, and defend themselves, Kam is interested in where the technology genuinely helps and where it quietly creates new blind spots. His guiding belief is simple: confidence without control becomes chaos, and without people, none of it works.

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About this Show:

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Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

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