Knicks staff ordered to security class after clicking fake ring email
Employees who fell for the simulated phishing test in late September must now attend mandatory training, according to a report in The New York Times.
By Adewale Fletcher ·
Employees at Madison Square Garden and the New York Knicks now face a mandatory cybersecurity class. The training requirement follows a simulated phishing test sent to staff in late September, as reported by The New York Times on Thursday.
The test email used the subject line "Congratulations, your Employee Championship Ring is here." Recipients were instructed to click a link to select from two ring designs. Team sources told The Times that any employee who clicked the link was required to attend the security course.
The exercise appears to address concerns held by owner James Dolan. Dolan controls the Knicks, the New York Rangers, and Madison Square Garden. The cybersecurity training was intended to help mitigate risks associated with digital threats.
Simulated phishing is a standard practice in large organizations. These tests measure how well workers identify suspicious communications. Companies often send emails that mimic internal memos but include subtle clues, such as misspelled domains. Condé Nast, the parent company of Ars Technica, uses this method, sending test messages from an address with a typo in the domain name.
It remains unclear if the Knicks email contained similar obvious errors. The offer was also plausible for two reasons. First, Joe Vardon, a senior NBA writer for The Athletic, noted that most NBA team staff receive championship rings, even if they are less expensive than the players' versions. Second, the Knicks recently won their first NBA championship in over 50 years, making the timing of the offer particularly relevant to the workforce.
The ring theme also connected to a separate event on Tuesday. The Knicks raised their first league championship banner since 1973. During that ceremony, assistant coaches received boxes that did not contain rings. The team expects to distribute the actual rings to those coaches at a later date.
The cybersecurity class serves as a direct consequence for staff who interacted with the test email. The report did not specify the number of employees who clicked the link or the length of the training session. The initiative aligns with the owner's stated goal of improving digital security across his portfolio.
