French cyber warriors ready to test their defense against hackers and malware during the Olympics.
Just like Olympic athletes, cyberwarriors who will play a crucial role in the success of the Paris Games, are training hard for the big event.
They turned to friendly hackers to probe their cyber defenses, like boxers who use training partners to prepare for a championship fight. They studied and analyzed the strengths, tactics and weaknesses of their opponents. It may beshow-off teenagersof ransomware gangs or Russian military hackers with malicious cyber attacks under their belt.
But unlike the 10,500 Olympians who will converge on the French capital in July, the Games’ cybersecurity engineers hope to stay out of the spotlight. For them, the equivalent of a medal will be to go through the Olympics – and Paralympics – without major incident. This would mean that theTheir layers of digital defenses resist attempts to cripple computer and information systems vital to the Games.
“My dream for the Olympics is that we don’t talk about technology and cybersecurity, because that would mean it wasn’t a problem,” said Jérémy Couture, who heads the cybersecurity center for Olympic organizers. Paris. Its work of identifying, analyzing and responding to cyber threats is so sensitive and essential to the success of the Games that theThe event organizers are keeping its location secret.
If those responsible for combating cyberattacks during the Games do not wish to disclose many details about their work, they have no doubt that malicious hackers will occupy them this summer. It may be cybercriminalsofteenagers in search of strong sensations orintelligence officers Russian military personnel who have already carried out damaging cyberattacks.
The targets are not limited to Games themselvesbut also to infrastructure which are essential to them, such as transport networks or supply chains.
Attackers can be “hacktivists“seeking to make a political statement or cyber extortionists motivated by greed. Nowadays, it is often difficult to distinguish a hacktivist from a state-sponsored cyber operator who pretends to be him.
Russia tops list of suspects
Among the most threatening cyber adversaries are countries that may want to embarrass and incur costs for France and the International Olympic Committee through proven offensive hacking techniques. Russia is at the top of the list of suspects.
Due to Russia’s current war in Ukraine, Olympic Games organizers banned him from participating in the team events at the Paris Games and will only allow certain Russians to compete as an individual as neutrals. Russia also attacks France for providing Ukraine with weapons and military training and for becoming one of Moscow’s fiercest critics in Europe.