How One Woman Secured the World's Biggest Live Event | Aurore Chatard
What does it take to secure the world's biggest live music event watched by 170 million people? Aurore Chatard — former French Navy officer, UN diplomat, and NATO operative — was appointed Head of Security for Eurovision Song Contest 2025 in Basel, Switzerland.
In this interview, she pulls back the curtain on the threats nobody talks about: cyber attacks, terrorism, crowd crushes, geopolitical tensions, and why the question was never if they'd be attacked — but when. Aurore shares how she built a fully integrated security team from scratch in under a year, combining physical security, cybersecurity, health & safety, accreditation, and crisis management under one resilient framework. She reveals the unique multi-site challenge of Basel, why a single unified crisis management team was a game-changer, and how "facilitate, don't obstruct" became her guiding principle.
Whether you work in risk management, event security, or just want a rare insider view of what goes on behind the scenes at Europe's most-watched broadcast — this conversation is unmissable.
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Chapters
00:00 Introduction
00:26 The Scale of Eurovision
01:22 From Navy Officer to Head of Security
04:23 What Makes a Great Security Leader
05:18 The Biggest Threats
08:29 Risk Management Approach
10:34 Work-Life Balance Under Pressure
11:51 The Marathon Timeline
15:53 Cybersecurity and Protecting Critical Systems
17:58 Accreditation and Access Control
20:56 Crisis Training and Simulation
24:56 Team Spirit and Psychological Readiness
27:05 The Future of Risk and Crisis Management
29:36 Closing Thoughts
Tags: Eurovision 2025, ESC, cybersecurity, risk management, event security, Basel, Aurore Chatard, INGAGE, crisis management, live event security, EBU, @EurovisionSongContest
