Paris Olympics 2024: Over 140 Cyberattacks Reported, No Disruptions
Paris Olympics 2024: Over 140 Cyberattacks Reported, None Disrupted Competitions
During the recently concluded Paris Olympics, French authorities reported a significant number of cyberattacks targeting the event. However, none of these attacks managed to disrupt the competitions or cause any major disruptions.
In the lead-up to and throughout the Games, France’s cyber security agency, Anssi, maintained a heightened state of alert to prevent potential attacks that could impact the organizing committee, ticketing systems, or transportation infrastructure. Between July 26 and August 11, Anssi recorded 119 reports of low-impact “security events” and 22 incidents involving successful targeting of victims’ information systems by malicious actors.
The attacks primarily targeted government entities, as well as sports, transport, and telecoms infrastructure. According to Anssi, approximately one-third of the incidents involved downtime, with half of those being attributed to denial-of-service attacks aimed at overwhelming servers. Other cyber incidents included attempted or actual compromises, data disclosure, and other malicious activities.
“All the cyber events that occurred during this period were generally characterized by their low impact,” Anssi stated.
Despite the numerous cyberattacks, the Grand Palais, which hosted Olympic events in Paris, and around 40 other museums in France were victims of a ransomware attack in early August. However, this incident did not affect any of the information systems involved in the Games.
Ransomware attacks exploit security vulnerabilities to encrypt and block computer systems, demanding a ransom payment from users or organizations to unlock them. During the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics held in 2021, organizers reported a staggering 450 million such operations, double the number seen during the 2012 London Olympics.
Ahead of the Paris Olympics, Marie-Rose Bruno, director of technology and information systems for the Paris Games, anticipated “eight to 10 times more” cyberattacks than those experienced in Tokyo.