2024 Paris Olympics: Over 140 cyberattacks target government, telecom networks
The 2024 Paris Olympics has been the target of over 140 cyberattacks, as reported by French authorities. These attacks, however, did not disrupt any of the competitions. Anssi, France's cybersecurity agency, was on high alert for potential threats that could interfere with the organizing committee or transport during the Olympic Games.
Cybersecurity agency records multiple security incidents
Between July 26 and August 11, Anssi documented 119 low-impact "security events" and 22 instances where a victim's information system was successfully breached by a "malicious actor." The attacks mainly targeted government entities, sports infrastructure, transport systems, and telecoms infrastructure. According to Anssi's report, a third of these incidents were downtime incidents while half were due to denial-of-service attacks designed to overwhelm servers.
Ransomware attack on Grand Palais and other museums
In early August, the Grand Palais, which hosted Olympic events in Paris, along with nearly 40 other museums in France fell victim to a ransomware attack. However, Anssi confirmed that this did not impact any of the information systems involved in the games. Ransomware is a type of malicious software that exploits security vulnerabilities to encrypt and block computer systems, demanding a ransom from a user or an organization to unlock them.
Comparison with previous Olympics
During the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, which were delayed due to the pandemic, organizers reported 450 million such operations. This was twice as many as during the London Olympics in 2012. Marie-Rose Bruno, director of technology and information systems for the Paris Games had anticipated "eight to 10 times more" cyberattacks than those seen at the Tokyo Games ahead of the Paris Olympics.
