How Social Listening Helped Anticipate and Mitigate Crisis Risks at Eurovision

Senthorus is a next-generation Security Operations Center (SOC) and a subsidiary of ELCA Security, fully operated and hosted in Switzerland. Specializing in 24/7 threat monitoring and detection, the company helps organizations protect their IT, OT, cloud, and endpoint environments while ensuring complete data sovereignty. Its proactive approach enables it to anticipate, detect, and neutralize increasingly hybrid threats.

Challenge: Securing a High-Stakes Global Event

With over 180 million viewers and global media exposure, the Eurovision Song Contest held in Basel emerged as one of the year’s most sensitive cultural events. The contest brought together multiple risk factors: geopolitical tensions, mobilization of activist groups, identity-based stances, and the massive circulation of unverified information.

In this context of intense media scrutiny, controlling the narrative became critical to preserving the event’s credibility and image. Organizers were facing an unstable information environment: misinformation sometimes generated or amplified by AI, attempts at coordinated activism capable of influencing public debate, and cyber threats targeting critical digital systems — voting systems, official websites, and social media accounts.

Traditional monitoring was no longer sufficient. It became necessary to anticipate crisis dynamics rather than manage them after the fact.

Objectives

1. Continuous Conversational Monitoring — Monitor social media, online media, and sensitive spaces in real time
2. Detection of Weak Signals — Identify early indicators related to geopolitical tensions, activism, and identity-based stances
3. Influencer Mapping — Understand amplification mechanisms and relay networks
4. Cyber Threat Intelligence — Detect phishing attempts, fake websites, digital identity theft, and sabotage attempts

Solution: An Integrated Intelligence and Security Framework

Between December 2024 and May 2025, Senthorus leveraged Onclusive’s social listening and media intelligence tools to deploy a coordinated system combining sentiment analysis and cybersecurity, built on several pillars operating in progressive escalation cycles.

In-Depth Media and Social Monitoring — More than a dozen monitoring channels were activated, providing comprehensive coverage of sensitive platforms, media, and digital spaces. Onclusive’s solutions enabled the identification of emerging conversations and analysis of their tone, speed of spread, and potential impact to inform strategic decision-making.

Advanced Threat Analysis — Cyber Threat Intelligence analyses detected phishing attempts, fake websites, digital identity theft, and sabotage attempts targeting critical voting and communication systems.

Progressive Intelligence Cycles — The intensity of monitoring increased systematically as the event approached, with near-real-time monitoring during the final week enabling immediate intervention if necessary.

Results: Crisis Prevention and Reputation Protection

Through a proactive and coordinated approach, the organizers were able to prevent crises, contain emerging threats, and sustainably protect the event’s reputation amid intense media and digital exposure.

• Early identification of coordinated disinformation campaigns targeting multiple candidates and delegations
• Detection and neutralization of phishing attempts and fake websites related to voting
• Defusing waves of controversy before they escalated
• Managing cyber risks without disrupting critical systems
• Maintaining the reputational stability of Eurovision despite a highly exposed environment

The final took place without any major incidents or media escalation, in an atmosphere of trust for organizers, broadcasters, and the public.

“This system allowed us to remain constantly vigilant by combining reputation analysis with cybersecurity. Anticipation was key: we were able to take action proactively, before risks escalated into a crisis.”

Édouard Forler, Senior Manager of Cybersecurity, Senthorus

To explore the full methodology and results in detail, access the complete case study.

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