Cybersecurity concerns rise as Paris 2024 summer olympics approach

As organizers of the 2024 Summer Olympics, branded as Paris 2024, enhance the event with advanced technology, cybercriminals are also capitalizing on the games' popularity to target unsuspecting audiences and abuse athletes on social media.

The Olympics will officially open along the River Seine on Friday, July 26, and close on Sunday, August 11. A high-tech opening ceremony will feature Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra smartphones on each country’s boat, sharing on-board footage via a 5G network.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) launched the Olympic AI Agenda in April 2024, highlighting AI's potential in sports. The Paris Games will see the first implementations of this initiative.

“The IOC will use AI at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 in different areas. A very important one is safeguarding athletes from cyber abuse, since we expect about half a billion social media posts during these Games,” said Thomas Bach, IOC president.

AI will also create highlight videos in multiple formats and languages, manage a sophisticated data capture and energy system for sustainability, and assist in talent identification, launching globally in 2025 to ensure AI in sport is accessible to all.

“We will see some pioneering concepts at Paris 2024. We are taking a measured approach for now to test and evaluate how AI can be used to enhance the Olympic Games and have them future-ready,” added Ilario Corna, IOC’s chief technology officer.

An AI-powered system to protect athletes from online abuse will monitor hundreds of thousands of social media accounts, flagging abusive messages for intervention by relevant platforms. Additionally, athletes will test a new chat service provided by the IOC in partnership with Intel, offering quick answers to questions on social media guidelines, anti-doping rules, and regulations.

Corna also mentioned the use of digital twinning, a concept developed with Intel, to create digital representations of venues for efficient planning and management, such as determining power needs and camera placements without being on-site.

Weak WiFi Hotspots Pose Risks

Despite the advanced digital technologies in place, cybersecurity firms warn of potential threats. Kaspersky experts analyzed nearly 25,000 free WiFi spots in Paris and found that almost 25% had weak or no encryption, making users vulnerable to personal and banking data theft. Only 6% of networks used the latest WPA3 security protocol.

Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT) found that a quarter of the networks had serious security weaknesses, making them vulnerable to interception, decryption, or cracking attacks. Additionally, 20% of networks used the outdated and easily compromised WPS algorithm.

“Cybercriminals have prepared an unsavoury welcome for the millions heading to Paris,” said Amin Hasbini, director of META Research Centre at Kaspersky. “They might set up fake access points or compromise legitimate networks to intercept and manipulate data transfers, targeting passwords, credit card details, and other sensitive user data.”

High-Stakes Cyber Threats

FortiGuard warns that major sporting events like the Olympics attract billions of viewers and are prime opportunities for cybercriminals. Attacks have surged, increasing from 212 million at the London 2012 Games to 4.4 billion at the Tokyo 2020 Games. These attacks often have financial motives, such as scams, digital fraud, or data theft from attendees, viewers, and sponsors.

With the global media focused on the event, criminals with political agendas seek to disrupt significant sites or knock critical services offline. FortiGuard Labs observed a significant increase in resources targeting the Paris Olympic Games, particularly focusing on French-speaking users, government agencies, businesses, and infrastructure providers.

“Beginning the second half of 2023, we saw a surge in darknet activity targeting France. This 80% to 90% increase has remained consistent across 2H 2023 and 1H 2024,” FortiGuard noted. “The Paris Olympics 2024 is a high-stakes cyber threat target, drawing attention from cybercriminals, hacktivists, and state-sponsored actors. Cybercriminals are leveraging phishing scams and fraudulent schemes to exploit unsuspecting participants and spectators.”

FortiGuard anticipates hacktivist groups will target entities associated with the Paris Olympics to disrupt the event, undermine credibility, and amplify their messages on a global stage.