Keeper to help Williams F1 keep up with cyber challenges

Keeper Security signs up to support F1 team Williams Racing with credential management ahead of the 2024 Miami Grand Prix

Alex Scroxton,
Security Editor

Published: 30 Apr 2024 17:38

Cloud-based zero-trust and zero-knowledge software specialist Keeper Security has joined storied Formula 1 team Williams Racing as an official partner ahead of the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday 5 May 2024.

The firm’s branding will appear on this season’s Williams car, the FW46 – on the front wing for the first weekend to officially launch the partnership – and on the overalls of the team’s drivers, Thailand’s Alex Albon and the United States’ Logan Sargeant.

The Keeper brand will also be displayed across the team’s garage, trucks, and screens used by crew and drivers during the various on-track sessions.

The partnership’s objective has a more serious intent – with almost three quarters of data breaches including some element of human error, and the majority of these caused by weak or compromised credentials, Keeper will also be responsible for improving password hygiene across the Williams organisation.

“Our data is one of our most important assets and protecting it is paramount,” said James Vowles, team principal at Williams, who is more usually quoted in motorsport magazines.

“Maintaining hundreds of passwords to keep our information safe and data protected requires robust and trusted systems. Keeper is the solution to these concerns, providing proven security for your information, and it is great to welcome them to Williams. Keeper also embodies the ethos of the team: excellence, pioneering innovation and relentless determination to succeed,” said Vowles.

“Partnering with Williams Racing presents an exciting opportunity to showcase Keeper Security’s cutting-edge cyber security solutions on the global stage,” added Darren Guccione, Keeper’s CEO and co-founder.

“The technological advancements and relentless pursuit of innovation synonymous with Formula 1 mirror Keeper’s mission to deliver next-generation protection for individuals and organisations worldwide. When seconds matter, both on and off the track, Keeper is driving powerful cyber security solutions that position our customers ahead of cyber criminals in the ever-evolving digital landscape,” said Guccione.

Keeper hooks up with Williams fresh from last year’s launch of its KeeperPAM next gen privileged access management (PAM) service that offers enterprise-grade password, secrets, and privileged connection managed within unified software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform, enabling organisations to achieve complete visibility, security, control and reporting across their most privileged, and therefore most attacked, users.

Williams, meanwhile, is still pushing hard to return to the top half of the F1 grid, where it was a frequent frontrunner in the past, winning multiple world driver’s championships and constructors championships with the likes of Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve.

In 2021 the team was on the receiving end of an unfortunate breach when a malicious actor hacked the backend of an augmented reality application that Williams had developed to launch that year’s car, and leaked details of it online. The app was supposed to have allowed fans to project a full-size, 3D model of the car in their own homes. The incident also put the brakes on a planned virtual meet-and-greet with its drivers. Williams’ core IT systems were completely unaffected by the cyber attack.

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