Olympics 2020 kick off after a year’s delay, but hackers are also ready, FBI says.
The FBI has warned that hackers and other threat actors will look to target the Olympic Games this month. The games have just begun in the Japanese capital Tokyo with billions of people around the world set to tune in to the action after a year’s delay due to the pandemic. However this huge audience also potentially makes for rich pickings for hackers, and despite the lack of any overwhelming evidence to suggest a cyber-attack on the Games itself, the FBI has still urged companies and consumers alike to be on their guard. In a ‘ private industry notification ‘ issued ahead of the Games, the US intelligence service warned that the Olympics could be targeted by any number of possible attacks, including distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, ransomware, social engineering, phishing campaigns, or insider threats. The agency warned that such attacks could try to block or disrupt live broadcasts of the event, steal and possibly hack and leak or hold hostage sensitive data, or attack and impact public or private digital infrastructure supporting the Olympics. “Malicious activity could disrupt multiple functions, including media broadcasting environments, hospitality, transit, ticketing, or security.
