Doppel Delivers Full-Court AI Defence to New York Knicks

In professional basketball, defence is just as important off the court as it is in the heat of the game.

Currently playing defence for the New York Knicks is AI-native social engineering defence (SED) platform, Doppel. 

When the Madison Square Garden Sports Corp announced the new partnership between the Knicks and Doppel recently, it marked the cyber firm's first-ever collaboration with a global sports franchise. 

Slam dunking its way into the NBA, the security platform which focuses on SED, will feature prominently across Knicks home games at Madison Square Garden. 

Doppel’s branding will now be on show during in-arena contests and GardenVision features throughout the regular season, with fans also seeing the company integrated into the team’s digital ecosystem.

“My co-founder Rahul and I came up with the concept of Doppel on a basketball court, so partnering with the New York Knicks feels like a full-circle moment,” says Kevin Tian, CEO and Co-Founder of Doppel. 

“In basketball, defence determines outcomes in the highest-pressure moments and in social engineering defense, the same is true. 

“For impersonation and phishing attacks that target high-profile organisations and their executives daily, the best offense is a good social engineering defence. 

“The Knicks operate in one of the most visible, high-stakes environments in sports and that is exactly where our technology is built to perform. This partnership puts our mission to protect the world from social engineering attacks on one of the biggest stages in the world.”

AI security meets elite sport 

The new collaboration will extend beyond the arena into Madison Square Garden’s heavily followed digital footprint. 

With Doppel appearing across exterior digital signage boards, the AI-native security company will court visibility from thousands of daily passers-by in one of New York’s busiest entertainment districts.

Doppel will also be integrated into the Knicks’ digital channels, including a dedicated content series across the team’s highly coveted social media platforms.

For the Knicks, it adds a cybersecurity shield to its operations while adding an AI-focused brand into a portfolio of partners spanning entertainment, retail and technology sectors.

“We welcome Doppel to the Knicks family,” says Doug Jossem, Executive Vice President Global Sports and Entertainment Partnerships at MSG Entertainment. 

“Bringing them on board as a valued partner unlocks new ways to connect and engage with fans and deliver value across our platforms, both inside and outside of the Arena.”

Real-time AI defence built for high-pressure 

The partnership with Doppel’s AI-native platform designed to detect and disrupt social engineering threats such as phishing and deepfakes before they reach their targets. 

The company positions itself as a real-time defence layer for organisations facing increasingly sophisticated digital threats.

“We built Doppel to be an AI-native platform that could identify and disrupt social engineering attacks, like deepfakes or phishing, before they ever reach their target,” says Rahul Madduluri, CTO and Co-Founder of Doppel.

“That requires operating in real-time with a high degree of precision and resilience. 

“Those are the same standards that define elite organisations like the New York Knicks, where performance and discipline are non-negotiable. That shared mindset is what makes this partnership so natural."

The unlikely similarities that emerge between an elite basketball team and a strong cyber defence company can hence be quantified as high-pressure decision-making, split-second reactions and consistent performance.