2933: Balancing Innovation and Cybersecurity at SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park

[00:00:01] Welcome back to The Tech Talks Daily Podcast. Now, as someone that used to work in the entertainment industry from an IT support point of view, I find myself whenever I enter any kind of stadium or arena trying to spot the Wi-Fi arrays,

[00:00:16] the technology behind the scene that brings to life those fan experiences that we often take for granted. I'm kind of cursed though with wanting to know how it all works.

[00:00:25] But more recently I've been thinking more and more about how you secure a cutting edge sports and entertainment district, like for example the SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park, against evolving cyber security threats.

[00:00:38] But also while at the same time ensuring a seamless experience for millions of visitors each year. Well, joining me today is Dwayne Robinson. I bumped into him here at Cisco Live on the show floor. He is the head of cyber security at SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park.

[00:00:56] And we met on the show floor here at Cisco Live, so I invited him to sit down with me and have a quick conversation about everything I've just mentioned and much more. So together we'll uncover how this technologically advanced venue utilises Cisco's robust security solutions

[00:01:12] to safeguard its operations and also enhance the fan experience across its 298 acre site. Whether it's hosting the Super Bowl, concerts or preparing for the 2028 Olympics or FIFA World Cup, Dwayne is going to share his insights into the complex world of cyber security

[00:01:30] in the high profile and dynamic environment that he lives and breathes. So buckle up and hold on tight as I beam your ears all the way to the Cisco Live show floor here in Vegas where you can join myself and Dwayne Robinson in an incredibly cool conversation

[00:01:46] which will transform how you see the world of sports and entertainment and fan experiences. So a massive warm welcome to the show. Can you tell everyone listening a little about who you are and what you do?

[00:02:00] My name is Dwayne Robinson and I'm head of cyber security for Hollywood Park and SoFi Stadium. We are a 298 acre mixed-use facility in Los Angeles, California, home to the legendary SoFi Stadium, home of the Chargers and the Rams. Fantastic. Well, I'm excited to get you on here.

[00:02:18] Obviously, there's so much happening. We talked about Tom Brady a few moments ago. He was on stage earlier. But what has excited you most at Cisco Live this year? Tom Brady was an exciting highlight of it.

[00:02:28] But also I had a discussion with G2 Patel, which was very enlightening and he was able to explain a lot of things on Cisco's future for me. And just the discussions around AI and a new roadmap for Cisco,

[00:02:42] I believe, would be the proper way to say it, was very exciting for me as well. And G2's just got so much infectious enthusiasm. I want a little bit of piece of that, just to take it home from Las Vegas, because yes, he does. He's infectious.

[00:02:55] And when people listening all around the world think of SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park, they're known for their technological advancements. And that's one of the reasons I was excited to get you on here. But what are the unique cybersecurity challenges you face in securing such a complex

[00:03:10] and high-profile venue? The unique challenges that we have is the vast number of people that enter our stadium every day. The stadium holds more than 70,000 people for a game day. For a concert, we can scale up to 100,000 or more people.

[00:03:26] And when you think about the number of devices that is on our network at a given time and with how technology is evolving so rapidly, that is the biggest challenge. We have 70,000, 80,000 different devices on our network during an event.

[00:03:43] Imagine Taylor Swift concert when you have a lot of her fans who want to post to their socials during that event. That is a challenge. That is something that excites me and also worries me. Yeah, I couldn't really imagine. And also, 80, 90, 100,000 people made mostly of water as well,

[00:04:02] which is not great for Wi-Fi. Exactly. As we're here at Cisco Live, can you tell me a little bit more about Cisco's security solutions, how they might have helped enhance things like threat detection and response at the SoFi Stadium, especially during large-scale events like possibly the biggest event,

[00:04:18] the Super Bowl and the 2028 Olympics, I believe, too. And if you're getting one other important one, FIFA World Cup. Yes, so we have a World Cup 2026, Super Bowl in 2027, and the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics in 2028. Wow.

[00:04:36] So it's going to be a nice runway for us, and we're looking forward to that. The Cisco suite of tools that we use is right now my team at Cisco that helped me out of second to none. They are able to translate my wants and needs into tools

[00:04:50] that are in their tool set and allow me to rest easier at night. We have a lot of telemetry, a lot of tools that allow me to see what's happening in our stadium, adapt quickly, modify things, proactively block things. With AI, things are even getting better.

[00:05:09] There's tools that we're using that can help us identify where a bottleneck might be. We're identifying that if certain subset of users or clients are experiencing latency, where we can go to get that and how we can mitigate that problem is just one of the numerous things

[00:05:28] that Cisco is helping me do on a daily basis. We have plans that we are looking for more proactive hardware identification and security, website blocking. But the beauty of it is in cybersecurity, unfortunately, we're a reactive entity, and Cisco is helping me become

[00:05:47] as proactive as I can as possible. Wow. I know that is so important right now. So just drilling down on that a little bit, how do you coordinate cybersecurity efforts, which various organizations, including the federal and local government agencies to ensure comprehensive protection

[00:06:04] for the stadium and all those hundreds of thousands? I'm fortunate enough to be part of an executive consortium with the FBI that provides me high-level unclassified information about threats in my industry, and that helps out a lot. As we move forward with FIFA and the Super Bowl,

[00:06:23] we'll be working heavily with the FBI, CISA, local police departments, sheriff's departments about threat intelligence. It's going to ramp up as we get closer to those events, but those partnerships and those network of three-letter agencies, and CISA before, it will be paramount to our success

[00:06:44] in allowing us to be able to understand what's happening and proactively defend against a multitude of threats. I think that's such an important message because we all hear about that spectacle, the 100,000 people there. But ultimately you've got all the world watching that event

[00:07:00] at the same time, and there are going to be bad actors wanting to put in a bad light, aren't there? Yes, and it's my job and the team at SoFi Stadium, Hollywood Park, to prevent that. We've been successful with one Super Bowl,

[00:07:14] and we have a track record of providing a great fan experience for a number of events through our tenure since we've been open, and we plan on continuing that track record throughout the Olympics and beyond. Fantastic. With the integration of new technologies

[00:07:30] and automated controls, how do you balance innovation with that need to maintain robust cybersecurity measures? I would imagine it's quite a balance. On one side, you need to innovate and meet those rising expectations, but equally you've got to keep your feet on the ground and secure that.

[00:07:44] Innovation is interesting because, yes, you want to innovate, but innovation could cause some issues, as we all know. So innovation is a practice that I really have to research and understand the need versus the want and how to integrate the need into the organization properly.

[00:08:07] As cybersecurity experts, we all make sure that we understand the tool, why we're implementing it, and then implement it in a fashion that makes sense. We don't want to put something in there because it's shining and new. I'm hearing about a lot of tools here at Cisco Live,

[00:08:19] and they're all great, but it'll be a while before some of these are introduced into our organization, and I think that's understandable across many organizations as well. It really is. And at the heart of everything we're talking about here are the fans, the fan experience.

[00:08:32] That's the critical aspect of events at SoFi Stadium. So how do you ensure that cybersecurity measures do not interfere with providing the exceptional fan experience? Because we've all been in the workplace where the new cybersecurity thing comes in and it stops you doing things that you enjoy doing.

[00:08:47] Do you have a similar thing with fan experience? We try not to interfere with the fan experience. Fan experience is paramount at SoFi Stadium. We want our fans to come to the stadium and ensure that their experience is second to none, from ordering their concessions to purchasing merch

[00:09:04] to uploading their favorite parts of the show to their favorite social platform. We do not want to interfere with that. And then so our controls are implemented with that in mind. There are some controls that you'd want to go to on a scale of one to five.

[00:09:20] Being a cybersecurity expert, you want to put it at four, 3.5 or four. I'm dialing down to two and scaling up very, very slowly to see what effect I have on a given instance or given trial of the tool and the event.

[00:09:35] So we don't want to go in and say, we're going to block this and we're going to block that and we're going to rate limit bandwidth. No, we're not going to do that. We're going to give the fan the better experience and then dial back shortly.

[00:09:47] And then it might take a few months to really get it to where we want it or even a year. But we still have the foundation of security that we've already tested. And then as we implement and adapt to new tools,

[00:09:58] it'll just be a very systematic and a detailed approach. And given the size and complexity of Hollywood Park, which kind of strategies do you employ to secure the entire 298-acre site, including the stadium, you've got the YouTube Theater and so many other facilities?

[00:10:15] Again, a lot of challenges there, I would imagine, because you make it look easy, but I'm sure it's not. It's a lot of hard work. It's a lot of hard work, but the team at Soulfire Stadium, they're great.

[00:10:24] And the beauty of Soulfire Stadium is that it's a new stadium. It was built with fan experience and security in mind. We have tools from Cisco that allow us to do a lot of deep monitoring and identifying, as you can imagine, with 298 acres,

[00:10:40] we have a lot of remote switches and a lot of remote what we call IDFs that are not necessarily in our main data center. So we have Cisco tools that allow us to monitor those tools for vulnerabilities, attempts, issues, or outages,

[00:10:56] and we can proactively disable and port block different switches if we see any anomaly on the systems. Once again, this goes through the design that the stadium was built under and the way that we have the design and the team that built the stadium,

[00:11:14] it actually makes my job a lot easier as I came into the stadium and when I was able to audit the whole 298 acres, I'm like, okay, so we have a solid foundation. And then for me, this is now what tools can Cisco help to do more proactive cybersecurity?

[00:11:32] Incredibly cool. And if we dare to look ahead, I don't know how you sleep at night, so many big events we've talked about from the Super Bowl to the Olympics, FIFA World Cup. If we do look ahead, are there any emerging threats or trends

[00:11:44] in cybersecurity that you're concerned about, keep you awake at night? And how are you preparing to address some of those potential challenges? I don't know if I mentioned it yet, but I probably cannot get out of this podcast without saying the two-letter word AI.

[00:11:58] I mentioned in keynotes, it was everywhere I've been. This week at Cisco Live, AI is not necessarily a concern, but AI also is a benefit. But just understanding how AI is growing rapidly and being able to understand and control the potential AI threats,

[00:12:16] that is something that worries me. I was talking to some colleagues outside about deep fakes and phishing, AI is making all of these easier to do. So that makes my job a little bit harder to protect those. But I have to be diligent, be up-to-date on emerging trends,

[00:12:33] and just really be proactive. And I use the word proactive a lot because if you remain reactive, you're going to be losing a lot of sleep. Now, in a former life, I used to work in IT in the event industry,

[00:12:48] big arenas, and I know all about what happens when the artist's Wi-Fi goes down and the manager comes. And equally, when anything goes down during that event and everybody's running. What kind of tools or what Cisco tools have helped make your life easier?

[00:13:01] Is there anything you can share around that? I mean, I've got so many war stories as well that you've probably got very similar. There was one, a Beyonce on sale where the ticketing system went down. Do you have any war stories like that that you could share?

[00:13:13] I have not had an issue where we've gone down because we haven't had that issue yet. But when I first started at the company, I was excited, nervous. We've had two NFL teams playing there, and then we had massive concerts.

[00:13:26] And when my first concert came, I was on site monitoring tools, checking things out, looking at people. And as I trusted my tools, I was able to look at the tools when I was at the show and see that the tools were doing their job.

[00:13:45] Firewall was blocking malicious traffic, and bandwidth was good. And then so shortly after that, it eased my threat level a little bit, and I was able to come home and then monitor from the house versus having to be on site and being worried about it on site.

[00:14:02] Looking at the tools when I was there, once again, they were doing their job. And then the subsequent events, I was like, okay, I'm getting the proper alerts. Nothing malicious is happening. The foundation has been set.

[00:14:17] The tools are doing their job, and I was able to make my restless nights a lot easier. There's so many different moving parts within an arena, and I've seen things like turnstiles can go down. People don't associate with technology.

[00:14:28] So what kind of tools do you use, or how does Cisco Tools, should I say, help you in being able to monitor and respond to these real-time situations as they unfold? Cisco is a strong partner with SoFi Stadium, and they're really the foundation of our network.

[00:14:46] And with that, the tools that we have allow us to ensure a seamless fan experience in the big event that SoFi Stadium is known for, football games and concerts. Also, Cisco helps us in the corporate side as well, because people may not realize that obviously there's a stadium

[00:15:06] and there's a game and there's fan experience, but there's also an employee subset as well. And we use tools to identify how employees are interacting on our network, and it secures us as well. We have tools from Cisco that allow us to identify shadow IT,

[00:15:21] allow us to identify unauthorized apps on our network, and being able to see that allows us to proactively, I'm using proactive again, block or identify a tool that's being used to help make sure that our environment is as secure as possible.

[00:15:36] I know how busy you've been, so thank you so much for stopping by and talking with me today. But before I let you go, for anyone listening, maybe you want to find out more information about SoFi Stadium, your partnership with Cisco, anything we discussed today.

[00:15:48] Is there any way you'd like to point everyone with? SoFi Stadium is the best point. You can find me on LinkedIn, Dwayne Robinson. But SoFi Stadium has all the information, and if you ever come out to enjoy a game, try to find me and say hi.

[00:15:59] Absolutely. Well, I'll get all the links added so people can find you nice and easily. But I know there's a big show floor out there, lots of other AI solutions, so I'll let you get back out there. But thanks for stopping by today.

[00:16:10] Thank you very much. I enjoyed myself. As we wrap up today, for me it's been fascinating to learn more about the intersection of technology, security, and the fan experience at one of the most iconic and technologically advanced sports and entertainment destinations in the entire world.

[00:16:26] And for everybody listening, what steps do you think venues like SoFi Stadium should take to further enhance their fan experiences and cybersecurity measures? I'd love to hear your thoughts, and join the conversation. Tell me good fan experiences, bad fan experiences in other venues around the world.

[00:16:43] I'd love to hear more about that and the kind of expectations you have for those fan experiences. So thank you for tuning in today. I look forward to bringing you more insights from the show floor here at Cisco Live. But thank you for listening today.

[00:16:57] Hope you'll join me again tomorrow. Until next time, don't be a stranger.