{"id":2690455,"date":"2026-10-23T21:33:01","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T01:33:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/knicks-baited-employees-with-fake-championship-ring-fitting-message-forced-clickers-into-cybersecurity-courses\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T21:33:01","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T01:33:01","slug":"knicks-baited-employees-with-fake-championship-ring-fitting-message-forced-clickers-into-cybersecurity-courses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/knicks-baited-employees-with-fake-championship-ring-fitting-message-forced-clickers-into-cybersecurity-courses\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks Baited Employees with Fake Championship Ring-Fitting Message, Forced Clickers Into Cybersecurity Courses"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fknicks-baited-employees-with-fake-championship-ring-fitting-message-forced-clickers-into-cybersecurity-courses%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2690455&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><br \/>\n<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\"><br \/>\n<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><html><body><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>There are plenty of ways to celebrate an NBA championship. Apparently, the New York Knicks have discovered a new one: Tricking their own employees into believing they\u2019re getting championship rings.<\/p>\n<p>As <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbssports.com\/nba\/news\/knicks-duped-employees-championship-ring--phishing-test\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CBS Sports<\/a> reported Friday, Madison Square Garden employees received an  in September offering them complimentary championship rings to commemorate the Knicks\u2019 first NBA title in 53 years. There was just one problem: The rings didn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7715834\/2026\/10\/22\/knicks-ring-night-assistant-coaches-msg-employees\/\">The Athletic<\/a>, the  began with a tantalizing message: \u201cCongratulations, your Employee Championship Ring is here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The message promised employees a personalized ring at no cost, with two designs to choose from: \u201cChampionship Gold\u201d and \u201cGarden Classic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>All employees had to do was click a link to reserve their preferred design. Sounds like a pretty sweet perk for helping bring a championship back to New York, right?<\/p>\n<p>Wrong. The  was actually a cybersecurity phishing test, and employees who clicked the link were instead required to attend mandatory cybersecurity training.<\/p>\n<p>Now, to be abundantly clear, there\u2019s nothing wrong with testing employees\u2019 cybersecurity awareness. In 2026, when phishing scams and cyberattacks can cripple entire organizations, such precautions aren\u2019t just reasonable \u2014 they\u2019re necessary.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, an MSG spokesperson told the New York Post that the company had recently been hacked and extorted after an employee\u2019s login credentials were compromised through a similar phishing attack.<\/p>\n<p>But there\u2019s a difference between testing employees\u2019 vigilance and dangling a once-in-a-lifetime reward in front of them, only to pull the rug out from under their feet.<\/p>\n<p>To MSG\u2019s credit, the organization appears to recognize that distinction. The spokesperson said using championship rings as bait was \u201can unfortunate mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately for Knicks owner James Dolan, that wasn\u2019t the only championship-ring controversy making headlines this week.<\/p>\n<p>The Athletic also reported that Knicks assistant coaches were handed black boxes during Tuesday\u2019s championship celebration, but those boxes apparently didn\u2019t contain the promised jewelry.<\/p>\n<p>Seven league sources confirmed that the assistants didn\u2019t receive rings that evening, with their reported reactions ranging from annoyance to genuine anger.<\/p>\n<p>To be fair, delayed championship rings aren\u2019t unprecedented. The Athletic noted that some Oklahoma City Thunder coaches and executives didn\u2019t receive their rings during last season\u2019s opening-night festivities, either.<\/p>\n<p>The Knicks\u2019 assistants have also reportedly been assured that their rings are coming eventually.<\/p>\n<p>However, when The Athletic sought clarification, an MSG Sports spokesperson offered this rather unhelpful response: \u201cWe are not disclosing anything about the rings.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, numerous longtime MSG employees, including some working in the Knicks\u2019 business operations, reportedly won\u2019t receive rings at all. That\u2019s particularly unfortunate, given that championship organizations commonly distribute less expensive commemorative rings to employees who contributed behind the scenes.<\/p>\n<p>Look, none of this means Dolan personally devised the phishing test or ordered empty boxes handed to the coaches. And nobody should confuse a cybersecurity training exercise with some unforgivable organizational scandal.<\/p>\n<p>But Dolan, who has hardly enjoyed universal affection among Knicks fans, is ultimately responsible for the culture surrounding his organization.<\/p>\n<p>Between the misleading s, the awkward ring ceremony, and the evasive responses, these are remarkably avoidable headaches for a franchise that should still be basking in championship glory.<\/p>\n<p>After 53 years of waiting, the Knicks finally gave New York something to celebrate. It\u2019s a shame that, barely a week into their title defense, the organization seems so determined to make the people who helped deliver that championship feel like they\u2019re the ones being played.<\/p>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f7f7f7; color: #171717; display: flex;font-size: 16px;font-weight: 600;line-height: 1.5;margin: 24px 0;padding: 18px 20px 18px 30px;text-align: left;\">\n<div style=\"align-self: stretch;border-left: 3px solid #171717;flex-shrink: 0;padding-left: 20px;\"><\/div>\n<p><a style=\"text-decoration: none;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/\">Choose The Western Journal as your preferred source on Google and never miss reporting that defends truth, protects freedom, and advances Western civilization<\/a><\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey == typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts = { \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs = [ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i = 0; i < inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]] = document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display = 'block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display = 'none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src = firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display = 'inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id'] = firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting = jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display = 'none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display = 'block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> \t     \t\t\t\t\t\t     \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (BA1)\")<\/script> \t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/body><\/html><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are plenty of ways to celebrate an NBA championship. Apparently, the New York Knicks have discovered a new one: Tricking their own employees into believing they\u2019re getting championship rings. As CBS Sports reported Friday, Madison Square Garden employees received an in September offering them complimentary championship rings to commemorate the Knicks\u2019 first NBA title<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2690456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Knicks-ring-ceremony-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2690455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Knicks-ring-ceremony-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2690455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2690455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2690455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2690456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2690455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2690455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2690455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}