Big 12 Concludes That No Helmet Communications Were Compromised This Season

The conference quickly concluded its investigation after concerns were raised by Texas Tech earlier this week regarding in-helmet communication encryption.

The Big 12 conference concluded its investigation into helmet communications, finding that none were compromised. / Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

Following concerns raised by Texas Tech regarding the encryption of helmet communications in college football, the Big 12 conference has concluded that no communications were compromised, the conference announced on Thursday afternoon.

The investigation into helmet communication, which was first reported by Max Olson of ESPN, concerned Texas Tech's 59-35 loss to Baylor on Oct. 19 and its 35-34 loss to TCU last Saturday. At the crux of Texas Tech's concerns was that the communication in the helmets of players this season has been conducted on insecure frequencies that can be accessible to anybody.

"Following the industry-wide concerns surrounding helmet communications, the Big 12 conducted a review of conference games and helmet communications processes to address any issues member institutions raised regarding the matter," the Big 12's statement read. "The review showed that at no point was any Big 12 competition compromised. All Big 12 helmet communications programs now have the encryption update from GSC, and schools may use either CoachComm or GSC for coach-to-player communication at their discretion."

GSC, one of the companies providing headset communication services this season, had previously announced a software update to encrypt the helmet comms. That software update is now complete.

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