The 2024 Olympic Games in Paris encountered a substantial number of cyberattacks, with French authorities reporting more than 140 incidents aimed at the event. These attacks highlighted the ongoing challenges in cybersecurity, emphasizing the importance of strong protective measures for large-scale events.
Incident Overview
During the Olympics, French officials revealed that multiple cyberattacks took place. Throughout the event, France’s cybersecurity organization, Anssi, oversaw the IT infrastructures of the Olympics and related organizations. They remained vigilant, actively monitoring their networks and systems for any intrusion or disruption attempts. This vigilance proved valuable as several attacks targeted the event’s organizations, ticketing systems, and transportation systems.
Anssi recorded a total of 119 minor security breaches and 22 more significant attacks. In the more significant attacks intruders gained unauthorized access to information, but fortunately they didn’t significantly impact the competitions. Overall, these attacks targeted government agencies and critical sectors, including sports, transportation, and telecommunications.
Approximately one-third of the cyberattacks caused temporary server outages, with half of these being denial-of-service attacks. Other attempts aimed at breaching systems or stealing sensitive data. Additionally, earlier this month, a ransomware attack targeted the Grand Palais in Paris, a venue for several Olympic events, as well as about 40 other museums across France.
Despite the large number of attacks, Anssi confirmed that their overall impact was contained, preventing major disruptions to the competitions.
Cyberattacks in other recent Olympic Games
Cyberattacks on the Olympics are not a new phenomenon. Each event attracts a significant number of attacks due to its high profile and global attention.
Some recent notable incidents from previous Olympic Games include:
- In 2021, during the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, local media reported that around 450 million cyberattacks were blocked.
- In 2012, the London Olympics saw the highest number of cyberattacks, with 200 million attacks on their official website and roughly 2.3 billion attacks on related organizations.
- The number of cyber incidents during the Tokyo Olympics was lower than during the London Summer Games (2012) and the PyeongChang Winter Games (2018), partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic making it more difficult for hackers to exploit ticket and audience information.
- Lastly, it’s worth highlighting that in 2021, the Japanese organizing committee credited their information sharing and proactive measures for preventing cyberattacks, ensuring that these attacks did not cause any damage.
What can we learn from this?
While the Olympics are a highly prestigious event, it may seem like their cybersecurity challenges are unique and not applicable to SMBs. However, this is far from the truth. In reality, SMBs are just as susceptible—if not more so—to similar cyberattacks, as they can be seen as easier targets due to their smaller infrastructures.
To help prevent such attacks, as the 2021 Japanese Olympic organizing committee emphasized, proactive cybersecurity measures and strategies should be implemented to mitigate and minimize the risks and impacts of cyberattacks. These proactive measures include:
- Regular Software Updates
- Employee Training and Awareness
- Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
- Network Segmentation
- Routine Security Audits and Penetration Testing
