Tag Archive for: 49ers’

2023 NFL conference title picks, odds: Bengals defense keeps Chiefs in check, Eagles exploit 49ers’ weaknesses

/in


Just four teams remain standing in the NFL playoffs, and on Sunday our matchup for Super Bowl LVII will be finalized. This postseason has been a profitable one for us over here as we’ve pegged the playoff bracket perfectly, picking each game on the money line exactly. Our 7-2-1 ATS mark in the postseason — which includes a 3-1 ATS record in the divisional round last week — isn’t too shabby either. 

Now that I’m done jinxing myself with that pat on the back, we’ll look to keep those good vibes rolling all the way to Arizona for the Super Bowl. First, let’s hammer out these picks for Championship Weekend where only one No. 1 seed survives. 

2022 record

Playoffs
ATS: 7-2-1
ML: 10-0-0

Regular season
Locks of the Week ATS: 41-45-4
ATS: 125-137-9
ML: 172-97-2

All NFL odds via Caesars Sportsbook

Featured Game | Philadelphia Eagles vs. San Francisco 49ers

The improbable Cinderella run by Brock Purdy and the 49ers has been one of the more enjoyable aspects of the 2022 season, but I see this story coming to a close on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field. The Eagles are a tough draw for San Francisco because they are well-equipped to attack the 49ers’ few weaknesses. 

Philadelphia’s offense should be able to throw on this Niners secondary, particularly deep. Kyle Shanahan’s defense ranks in the bottom five in the NFL in completion percentage, touchdown-to-interception ratio, and passer rating against throws 25+ yards down the field. Meanwhile, that’s part of what Jalen Hurts does best. The Eagles quarterback has a passer rating of 125.0 on throws 25 or more yards downfield and has 10 touchdowns to just one interception on those throws. After a quiet divisional round, A.J. Brown should be the main beneficiary of Philly’s attempt to exploit that weakness, especially with seven of his 11…

Source…

Hacking group is on a tear, hitting US critical infrastructure and SF 49ers

/in


A helmet for the San Francisco 49ers football team.

A couple of days after the FBI warned that a ransomware group called BlackByte had compromised critical infrastructure in the US, the group hacked servers belonging to the San Francisco 49ers football team and held some of the team’s data for ransom.

Media representatives for the NFL franchise confirmed a security breach in an emailed statement following a post on BlackByte’s dark web site, on which the hacker group attempts to shame and scare victims into making big payouts in exchange for a promise not to leak the data and to provide a decryption key that allows the data to be recovered. The recent post made available for download a 379MB file named “2020 Invoices” that appeared to show hundreds of billing statements the 49ers had sent partners including AT&T, Pepsi, and the city of Santa Clara, where the 49ers play home games.

A busy three months

In an emailed statement, franchise representatives said investigators were still assessing the breach.

“While the investigation is ongoing, we believe the incident is limited to our corporate IT network,” the statement said. “To date, we have no indication that this incident involves systems outside of our corporate network, such as those connected to Levi’s Stadium operations or ticket holders.”

The team said it notified law enforcement and is working with third-party cybersecurity firms to perform the investigation. “[W]e are working diligently to restore involved systems as quickly and as safely as possible,” the statement said.

On Friday, the FBI and the Secret Service issued a joint statement warning that BlackByte, a group first spotted last year, has been on a hacking spree over the past three months and that it has successfully breached an array of sensitive networks.

“As of November 2021, BlackByte ransomware had compromised multiple US and foreign businesses, including entities in at least three US critical infrastructure sectors (government facilities, financial, and food and agriculture),” the advisory stated. “BlackByte is a Ransomware as a Service (RaaS) group that encrypts…

Source…

San Francisco 49ers confirm ransomware attack

/in


The San Francisco 49ers NFL team has fallen victim to a ransomware attack that encrypted files on its corporate IT network, a spokesperson for the team has told The Record.

The team confirmed the attack earlier today after the operators of the BlackByte ransomware listed the team as one of their victims on Saturday on a dark web “leak site” the group typically uses to shame victims and force them into paying their extortion demands.

BlackByte-ransomware
Image: Screenshot of the BlackByte 49ers extortion page (via @CyberKnow20)

“Upon learning of the incident, we immediately initiated an investigation and took steps to contain the incident,” the team told us earlier today.

“While the investigation is ongoing, we believe the incident is limited to our corporate IT network; to date, we have no indication that this incident involves systems outside of our corporate network, such as those connected to Levi’s Stadium operations or ticket holders,” it added.

The team said it notified law enforcement and is working with third-party cybersecurity firms to investigate the attack.

“[W]e are working diligently to restore involved systems as quickly and as safely as possible,” the team said.

Attack could have been catastrophic in “what if?” scenario

The attack could have been catastrophic if the team had qualified for Super Bowl LVI, which will take place later today.

The 49ers dramatically lost 17 to 20 after the Los Angeles Rams mounted a 4th quarter comeback in the NFC Championship game two weeks ago.

If they had made it to the Super Bowl, this ransomware attack could have seriously disrupted the team’s game preparations, bringing ransomware to the forefront of the US media cycle once again after several high-profile incidents last year, including one that took place over the 4th of July weekend.

Nonetheless, it is unclear how the current attack will impact the team’s plan for the next NFL season/year, which will start later this month with the free agency signing period, NFL Combine event, and subsequent NFL Draft.

FBI warns about BlackByte attacks

As for the attackers, the BlackByte ransomware gang is one of the smaller ransomware operations active today, operating on a RaaS…

Source…

49ers’ ubiquitous stadium Wi-Fi network delivers to full house in NFL debut

/in

Levi’s Stadium crowd on August 17, 2014.
Jim Bahn

The San Francisco 49ers’ massive Wi-Fi network delivered to its first NFL crowd last night when the home team took on the Denver Broncos in a preseason game at the just-opened Levi’s Stadium.

Mobile Sports Report Editor Paul Kapustka tested the network in person during the game and detailed his findings extensively.

“In its first ‘real’ test with an almost-full house on Sunday the Levi’s Wi-Fi and cellular networks seemed to work well throughout the game, delivering solid speed test results from almost every part of the new 68,500-seat facility,” Kapustka wrote. In an outside concourse, Kapustka got speeds of 57.92Mbps down and 41Mbps up. He still got more than 20Mbps in both directions inside near the concession stands, while Mbps dropped to the teens in the seats, still plenty fast enough to qualify as broadband.

Read 11 remaining paragraphs | Comments


Ars Technica » Technology Lab