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It’s pretty unusual to find yourself at a cybersecurity event playing basketball in Times Square. Add in NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal as the host, and you'd be describing the stuff of dreams.
Yet that’s what a lucky crowd got at NordVPN’s latest event on Thursday. The provider went big on online defence with its ambassador Shaq on hand to teach Americans about digital threats.
At the event, professional basketball players also challenged members of the public to slam dunk, echoing how the VPN’s next-generation antivirus intercepts and blocks malware and phishing attempts before they can even reach a user’s device.
More than shots blocked
The NBA Hall of Famer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist has been NordVPN’s official ambassador since September. The collaboration focuses on raising awareness of digital threats while also boosting NordVPN’s marketing efforts as the company transitions from a simple VPN to a comprehensive, all-in-one security suite.
A key part of this is NordVPN's 'Next Gen Antivirus', which scans 12 million unique URLs daily and blocks an average of 130,000 malicious pages. It blocked nearly 5 million malware attempts in the US in the first months of 2026, NordVPN says.
At the event, the VPN drew parallels with sport and digital security, using pro-basketball players to showcase what real defence in action means and presenting malicious activity as slam dunks on a court.
The audience was invited to try to score against experienced players, only to have professionals with years of experience in the field block their attempts, much like how NordVPN defends against digital risks.
But why?
The poetic parallels are timely, as NordVPN recently warned that Americans are suffering from a delulu-clash over their cybersecurity knowledge.
Frighteningly, recent research by NordVPN found that 71 per cent of respondents believe that common sense is simply enough to navigate digital threats.
What’s more, almost three-quarters of respondents believe they are perfectly capable of spotting online scams in spite of evidence to the contrary.
Findings revealed that 74 per cent of Americans were unable to spot a fake URL and 82 per cent failed to recognise a fake CAPTCHA, while less than half correctly identified a phishing email disguised as a job recruitment message.
More than half – 51 per cent – reuse the same password or similar passwords across different accounts. Unsurprisingly, it is the users who are most confident in their own abilities who tend to do this, says NordVPN.
It is therefore even less surprising that 73 per cent of Americans have already fallen victim to a scam recently, with nearly a quarter having suffered or being at risk of suffering a financial loss.
Shaq’s profile arguably makes the case better than any cyber-security expert: “These scammers are getting smarter, and sometimes all it takes is one click or sharing one piece of information. You don’t have to be a cybersecurity expert. You just have to stay alert, make smart choices, and use the right tools to protect yourself.”
