The BBC has said that the risk of a cyber-attack on the Eurovision song contest is the main worry for broadcasters.

The UK is hosting Eurovision in Liverpool after Ukraine, last year’s winner, said it was unable to host due to the ongoing Russian invasion.

Specialists from the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre are helping the BBC, which is producing two semi-finals and the grand final for a global audience, prevent any attempts by pro-Russian hackers to influence the competition's public vote, according to reports by the Guardian.

Kate Phillips, the BBC’s director of unscripted programmes, told the Guardian that there were no concrete details about a planned attack, but that plans were in place if one were to occur.

“I don’t want to say we’re pretty attack-proof but we’ve done everything we can to make sure the event is as secure as possible so people don’t have to worry about that,” Phillips told the newspaper.

She continued: “Cyber-attacks are the main worry because they’re becoming more and more frequent. Most companies seem to have been hacked. We’re very conscious that we are open to a cyber-attack but everything we’ve done I think mitigates that.”

National Technology News has approached the BBC for comment.

Earlier this year, the BBC reported that Eurovision fans trying to book accommodation for the event had been targeted by phishing scams.

Travel website Booking.com told the broadcaster that "a number of accounts" had been affected by cyber-attacks which were "quickly locked".

It claimed some businesses had "accidentally compromised their own internal systems by clicking on links contained in these messages".

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