France gearing up for DDoS attacks at Olympics: Axios
3 Min Read
The Paris Games come amid heightened political tensions, such as the ongoing wars in Gaza and Ukraine, and key elections approaching in several nations this year.
-
Floriane Issert, a Gendarmerie non-commissioned officer of the National Gendarmerie, rides on a horse while leading volunteers carrying flags of Olympic teams on the Iena Bridge in Paris, France, during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 26, 2024. (AP)
Cybersecurity experts are bracing for a potential surge of website disruptions, as the 2024 Olympic Games kicked off in Paris on Friday, Axios reported.
While often considered mere annoyances in the cybersecurity realm, distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks can significantly disrupt online services or live events when successful.
Hackers increasingly employ DDoS attacks, which flood websites with malicious bot traffic, to attract attention or conceal broader hacking operations.
During the ongoing Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, hackers from both sides have used DDoS attacks to disable media and government websites.
"The recognition of how important the availability of these services is, that's what makes it an enticing attack surface," Hardik Modi, Area Vice President of Engineering at Netscout, told Axios.
"They [hackers] recognize that the broadcaster doesn't want their systems going down at the time," Modi mentioned, adding that "the ticketing systems don't want to be down at that moment when 20,000 people are trying to enter a soccer stadium."
The news website noted that the Olympics and other major sporting events have long been prime targets for hackers and DDoS attacks.
It recalled that, in 2018, hackers disrupted internet access and telecasts and shut down the official Olympics website during the Winter Olympics' opening ceremony in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
According to Cyber Magazine, the 2016 Rio Olympics also experienced DDoS attacks peaking at 540 Gbps, while the 2020 Tokyo Olympics faced approximately 450 million attacks.
The Paris Games come amid heightened political tensions, such as the ongoing wars in Gaza and Ukraine, and key elections approaching in several nations this year.
Modi claimed that Russia's ban from participating under its own flag could further motivate Russian hacker groups to target this summer's Games.
Cyber firm Cyble reported last week that Russian groups HackNeT and the People's Cyber Army launched "trial DDoS attacks" on various French websites.
Targets reportedly included the websites of the Grand Palais Museum and the La Rochelle International Film Festival.
Axios added that DDoS is just one of many cybersecurity threats that experts are monitoring throughout the Olympic Games.
France's Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin stated that around 1,000 individuals have already been barred from attending the Games due to suspicions of espionage.
The news website pointed out that Paris has been gearing up for a wave of digital threats and seeking assistance from allies.
Washington officials have been advising their French counterparts on the best defenses against imminent cyber threats.
French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal acknowledged on Thursday that cyberattacks on the Olympics are inevitable, telling reporters at the Games that "the key is to limit their impact," as cited by Reuters.
Read more: Israeli athletes to receive 24-hour protection at Paris Olympics
