Oracle Red Bull is securing the win with 1Password - a credential halo balancing speed and security on and off the track

Formula 1 is a notoriously high-stakes sport, but the danger doesn’t stop when the chequered flag waves at the end of the race weekend.

Engineering, research, and security continue round the clock, meaning every pound under the Formula 1 cost cap has to go towards enhancing every aspect of performance.

To that end, Oracle Red Bull Racing has partnered with one of the best enterprise password managers, 1Password, to not only provide enhanced credential security, but also to boost efficiency, productivity, and reduce internal friction.

Securing the Win

If you’ve ever wanted to learn more about how a Formula 1 team performs off the track, the ‘Securing the Win’ docuseries will take a look under the hood at all the different components that keeps Oracle Red Bull Racing on track.

1Password Presents: Securing the Win - YouTube

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As with all businesses, every team at Oracle Red Bull Racing is working towards a singular goal: the win. With that in mind, any obstacle between an employee and the podium can quickly become a devastating security risk.

Take passwords for example. You need to open the latest CAD file for a vital design change, but that pesky login window is once again in your way. To save time, you write down your passwords on a Sticky Note for quick copy-and-paste access. Now you can bypass that pesky login window, and with it, all the security it was providing.

Anyone with access to your computer now has access to critical design information that could suddenly find itself in the hands of competition. Do I even need to mention the 2007 "Spygate" debacle which rocked Formula 1, where sensitive documents were leaked across teams?

So how does a worldwide team that is constantly on the move handle billions of vital data points, while remaining secure and pushing every pound beneath the spend cap towards performance?

Battling friction at every level

For Oracle Red Bull Racing Chief Security Officer (CSO) Mark Hazleton, there is a fine balance between speed and security. Sure, you can have teams communicating, collaborating, and designing without the friction caused by security tools, but then every exchange is at risk.

Security tools are often justified to executives as an investment against the potential cost of a cyberattack, but deployment requires training and downtime.

Speaking in Episode 2 of the docuseries, Hazleton sums up this conundrum perfectly: “Do you want the outage caused by something that we've done that's trying to protect us from the bad guys? Or do we want the bad guys coming knocking on the door?”

Ultimately, it's about focusing control. There are multiple ways data can leave a secure environment, and not just through the internet or on a thumb drive.

“Some of the things that are highly secretive, they're in people's heads. It's not just geometry and complex mathematics and so on. It can be as simple as different types of materials, it can be different processes that we're using,” Hazleton explains.

“Most security people will be familiar with the concept of an onion,” he continues. “You've got multiple rings protecting multiple layers, so you define what's really sensitive, and you concentrate on those really sensitive areas.”

Protecting the layers

That is where 1Password enters the race.

1Password has released a case study analyzing the benefits it provides to Oracle Red Bull Racing, outlining the challenges facing the team, such as how to provide seamless and secure login and password storage, how to manage credentials across a constantly expanding business, and how to make sure every pound within the Formula 1 spend cap is being used productively.

To manage the credentials of over 1,800 employees across multiple sites, 1Password provides shared vaults, or secure digital folders, that can be quickly accessed and audited to provide visibility into who has accessed and changed protected items.

Of course, employees come and go, and assigning and revoking credentials is an essential part of keeping the business running smoothly while also keeping out unauthorized users. Seconds saved on logins can translate into milliseconds on the track.

Auditing doesn’t stop there though. 1Password also provides insights into the apps and services most used by employees, as well as the tools and systems that aren’t being used. This allows money to be saved and reinvested where it matters most.

Oracle Red Bull Racing team principal and CEO, Laurent Mekies, also commented on the effectiveness of 1Password in Episode 1. “Security is like Formula 1, you know - you need the right team. You need the people, talent, and when everything works well, it gives you that performance that you don't see every day, but that allows all of us to be focused on what we need to do.”

“You need strategic partnerships to ensure that that layer of things is pretty much forgotten by the guys and the girls that are concentrating on the cars, and that's what we get with 1Password.”