When geopolitical tensions intrude on the Olympic Games

All the cybersecurity firms that have assessed the geopolitical cybersecurity risks of the upcoming Olympic Games agree: the tensions surrounding the Russian-Ukrainian war represent one of the greatest cyberthreats to the event.

While the conflict continues, Russia and Belarus remain barred from the Olympic Games. Athletes from these countries can still take part in the competition, but they must do so under a neutral banner and on the condition that they have not actively supported the war. According to Sekoia, retaliation by both countries to sabotage or disrupt the event – and damage France’s reputation – must be expected.

In 2016, the Fancy Bear group, allegedly linked to Russian intelligence, hacked into the World Anti-Doping Agency via an account created by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the Rio Games. The hack-and-leak attack, which leaked confidential medical documents about American tennis players Venus and Serena Williams and American gymnast Simone Biles, is believed to have been driven by a desire for revenge. Russia was banned from taking part in the Olympic Games that same year, caught up in a state-run doping scandal.

Russia was also singled out when a destructive cyberattack rocked the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Attributed to the Sandstorm group (linked to Russian intelligence), the powerful malware affected television broadcasts, security barrier systems and the official Olympic Games digital ticketing application, even forcing some information systems to be completely rebuilt.

Analysts are particularly concerned about the use of wipers, malware capable of destroying entire computer systems and which has been used extensively against Ukraine. A group of wipers targeting Japanese PCs was discovered on the eve of the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021.

The hacktivist threat

Although less dangerous than the threat posed by state-sponsored groups, hacktivists still pose a threat to the forthcoming Olympic Games. The increase in politically motivated cyberattacks in 2023 leaves no doubt about the fervor of hacktivist groups.

These malicious actors could seek to make people feel insecure through defacements or Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks – symbolic attacks perpetrated en masse by pro-Palestine and pro-Israel groups, but also pro-Russia and pro-India, in the current cyber warfare taking place in the Middle East.

While the usual suspects, such as NoName, will certainly not waste the opportunity to destabilize the world’s biggest sporting event, Sekoia highlights the danger posed by cooperation between hacktivist groups. The Killnet collective is one example of this kind of cooperation, having integrated several other hacktivist groups into its ranks to expand its strike force against states supporting Ukraine, including France, in 2023.

Espionage and influence campaigns

In November 2023, Le Parisien revealed the existence of a Russian interference campaign and drew a parallel between the 2024 Games and the 1972 Games in Munich, when 11 Israeli athletes were murdered. The campaign’s fake images that were posted on social networks did not seem to rattle the web. However, according to Sekoia, this type of campaign is likely to cause « significant damage to the interests of the host country » over the long term, particularly in terms of reputation.

Another invisible threat is cyber-espionage, which could prove detrimental to the forthcoming Olympic Games. In 2019, the Sandstorm group once again courted the authorities’ ire for conducting a reconnaissance campaign against the organizations involved in the Tokyo Olympics. Just over a decade earlier, the « Shady Rat » espionage operation originating in China targeted the IOC and several Western and Asian Olympic Committees. This was the first publicly reported malicious cyberattack targeting the Olympic Games.