World Cup Security: How Idaho National Lab is protecting Bay Area infrastructure
World Cup security at Levis Stadium
With the World Cup three weeks away, final preparations are underway to welcome tens of thousands of fans to venues around the nation and here in the Bay Area. Work has actually been going on for years to make sure matches are safe for fans and the community.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - With the World Cup just three weeks away, final preparations are underway to welcome tens of thousands of international soccer fans to venues across the United States, including Levi’s Stadium in the Bay Area. While local organizers focus on ticketing and crowd management, a specialized federal team has spent years working behind the scenes to protect the foundational systems keeping the matches safe for both fans and the wider community.
When thinking about large-scale event security, visible measures like bag searches, metal detectors, and law enforcement presence typically come to mind. However, cybersecurity and physical infrastructure experts are looking at a different kind of vulnerability: the power grids, water lines, and communication networks that keep stadiums operational.
Analyzing Critical Infrastructure in World Cup Host Cities
Experts at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) in Idaho Falls, Idaho, have been assessing these interconnected vulnerabilities as part of an overall federal security effort surrounding the tournament. Overseen by the U.S. Department of Energy, the national laboratory is historically known for its early nuclear research. Today, its focus has expanded to safeguarding the nation's critical systems.
Harvey Hembree, a critical infrastructure security analyst at INL, works on a specialized team analyzing the infrastructure of all 11 U.S. cities hosting World Cup matches.
"Stadiums require power, water, communications," Hembree said. "To get the water to flow to your tap, there needs to be electricity along the way somewhere. The electricity has got to be there for the water treatment plants, it has got to be there for the pump stations."
Simulating Cascading Infrastructure Failures and Cyberattacks
The Idaho-based laboratory utilizes what it calls an "all-hazards framework." This sophisticated modeling system allows both public and private sector organizations to run predictive scenarios, simulating what might happen if a vital piece of infrastructure fails for any reason including natural disaster, severe weather, or a criminal cyberattack.
"When we create this dataset with the connections between critical infrastructure, we can then simulate disruption events," Hembree explained. "We can turn off specific pieces of infrastructure and see how that disruption might cascade through the region."
The real-world implications of these simulations are significant. For example, a targeted cyberattack that shuts down a regional wastewater treatment plant used to cool a power generation station could quickly trigger a domino effect which could impact an entire region.
Lessons From Super Bowl 60 at Levi’s Stadium
This is not the laboratory's first time securing a major event in the South Bay. INL analysts previously mapped out infrastructure dependencies for Super Bowl 60 at Levi's Stadium.
During that assessment, the team uncovered a critical operational link between a regional recycled water system and the cooling mechanisms for a local power plant used during peak energy demands.
"I think the system there in the South Bay is one of the biggest I have seen around the country," Hembree said, noting the complexity of the local water recycling system.
Empowering Bay Area Security and Disaster Response Teams
The Idaho National Laboratory does not tell public agencies nor private utility officials how to manage their operations. Many of the systemic vulnerabilities identified during these exercises are often already known to the organizations that manage the local infrastructure.
Instead, the federal data serves as an advanced planning tool. Local emergency planners, utility companies, and law enforcement agencies in each of the World Cup host cities can use the simulations to patch vulnerabilities, build redundancies, and ensure the international tournament remains safe and uninterrupted.
Featured
ICE will 'be out there every day' during World Cup, DHS chief says
ICE officials said they will be focused on public safety, not broad immigration sweeps, during the World Cup, but it’s unclear whether ICE agents will avoid all immigration enforcement during the event.