A few weeks before the start of the Paris 2024 Olympic Gamesa threat gains strength. A report indicates that the event could exceed 450 million cyberattacks, affecting both public and private institutions, and many more people through scams.
According to Unit 42, Palo Alto Networks’ Threat Intelligence and Research Unit, these attacks have become the biggest threat in recent years, more worrying than at Tokyo 2020.
Attacks include financially motivated cyber fraud and politically motivated sabotage, driven by the use of artificial intelligence.
The report points out that hackers’ potential targets include critical businesses and services such as financial institutions, transportation, hospitality, event management, telecommunications, media, public services and even security as a whole.
Ransomware is also identified as the most frequent cause of disruption to critical services. This is a trend, as in 2023 there were almost 4,000 ransomware-related breaches, 49% more than in 2022.
Email is also one of the targets for these attacks. They manage to impersonate sponsors or companies affiliated with the tournament. They also request payments that, on average, range between 500,000 USD before, during and after the competition.
But Paris 2024 is also a focus of interest for Russian hacktivists. The report notes that there is unusually intense activity in malicious and disruptive operations carried out by Russian-based actors. These groups include Fighting Ursa and Razing Ursa, also sponsored by the Russian state.
Other groups originate from Iran, Belarus and China, which have also tracked unusual activity, revealing espionage and cyberattacks. This field includes groups such as White Lynx in Iran, Agonizing Serpens in Belarus and Towering Taurus in China, which are involved in espionage, information operations, and wiper, defacement and hack-and-leak attacks.