Ransomware attacks on the Olympic Games ‘inevitable’ – Intelligent CISO

The French government warns that ransomware attacks on the Olympic Games are “inevitable.” Research by ExtraHop found that France experienced the second most ransomware attacks in the last 12 months, just behind the United States. On average, organizations were involved in more than nine incidents and paid nearly $2 million in ransom.

Mark Bowling, Chief Information Security and Risk Officer at ExtraHop, said: “Given the millions of visitors to France and the heightened geopolitical situation, it is not surprising that both state actors and cybercriminals – possibly with the active consent and encouragement of those same nation states – are targeting the Games.

“Organizations involved in government services, critical infrastructure and entertainment must be on high alert to avoid potential disasters, geopolitical embarrassment and significant financial loss.”

Bowling continued, “To prepare, it is critical that organizations have contingency plans in place and are ready to respond when an incident occurs and then recover effectively from the incident. Security teams must also be extra vigilant and identify and fix any security gaps, such as misconfigurations and vulnerabilities, that attackers can exploit to gain access to their data and assets.

The French cybersecurity agency warned that ransomware attacks on the games were “inevitable.”

For two years, French authorities have been preparing to counter what they say are unprecedented cyberattacks on the games, identifying a “kaleidoscope” of threats posed by criminal groups, states seeking to undermine the games, “hacktivists” and gamblers.

The agency is confident that security teams can cope with this, but it is “unrealistic” to assume that all attacks can be prevented.

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