The AFL has today announced Australia’s leading cyber security organisation, CyberCX, will become the Official Cyber Security Partner of the AFL and AFLW, and become a naming partner of the AFL Review Centre (ARC) for the next two years.
The partnership will see CyberCX play an important role in uplifting the league’s cyber security defences and helping to protect the players, staff and fans, while raising the visibility of the cyber security posture across the league.
The partnership will also extend to all 18 clubs with them all having the opportunity to connect with CyberCX with the partnership able to revolutionise security maturity – providing a security framework and measurement for clubs to improve cyber security.
By raising visibility of the issues that matter the most, recommending measures to mitigate the risks, and delivering on those activities will help ensure clubs are protecting the most critical data that powers their operations.
CyberCX will provide the AFL with a ‘Managed Security Operations Centre’, a 24/7 service that will monitor activity on the network and alerts the league to potential security incidents.
AFL General Manager Commercial Peta Webster said:
"We know there is always an ongoing cyber risk across the world, this partnership will continue to provide a safe and secure experience for all of our fans in the knowledge their personal information is protected at all points in the fan engagement lifecycle.
"We welcome CyberCX to the AFL family and look forward to working together over the next two years, helping to secure our game from the grassroots to elite."
CyberCX CEO John Paitaridis said:
"This is a significant partnership for CyberCX that underscores our commitment to delivering critical cyber security protection to the AFL so they can operate the league with confidence in an increasingly complex threat landscape.
"Sport is fundamentally woven into the Australian culture and community, with sporting codes and clubs experiencing record participation, fan engagement and revenue underpinned by new technologies. However, the threat environment globally is worsening. Our recent CyberCX 2026 Threat Report revealed that cyber extortion is now the number one type of cyber incident confronting organisations, while financially motivated attacks are taking longer to detect. Against this backdrop, sporting codes and clubs remain lucrative targets for cyber criminals and the impacts can be devastating.
"CyberCX’s mission is to secure our communities. Our strategic partnership with the AFL will help protect players, fans and staff while raising the importance of cyber resilience across the league and clubs. CyberCX is a trusted security partner for sporting codes across Australia, with the AFL announcement building on our strategic partnerships with Tennis Australia and Rugby Australia that help secure Australian sports."
