FBI Warns Of Possible Cyberattacks At 2022 Winter Olympics

FBI warns of possible cyberattacks at the 2022 Olympics. (photo: doc. unsplash)

JAKARTA - The FBI has warned "entities associated" with the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and 2022 Winter Paralympics to be on the lookout for potential cyberattacks against the event's organizers and surrounding supply chains.

"The FBI is not currently aware of any specific cyber threats to the Olympics, but encourages partners to remain vigilant and maintain best practices in their networks and digital environments," said a source at the Bureau, quoted by Techradar.

Different cybercrime groups, nation-state or otherwise, could try to take advantage of the Olympics to “make money, sow confusion, increase their fame, discredit enemies, and advance ideological goals,” the warning added.

This can happen in a variety of ways, from malware campaigns, denial of service (DDoS) attacks, ransomware attacks, data theft, social engineering, phishing, or insider threats.

The results could be devastating for event organizers and the supply chain around them, according to the FBI, as the disruption could shut down live broadcasts, affect private and public digital infrastructure, or even result in compromise of personally identifiable data from attendees, or support workers.

The FBI has asked all concerned to "maintain a business continuity plan to minimize disruption of critical services". With remote work so popular today, as well as the increasing use of digital infrastructure, businesses are advised to use a VPN, and to regularly monitor their network and endpoints.

There have been concerns raised about the official My 2022 app, which was created for participants of the upcoming game, but appears to be tampered with security flaws, and could even be tricked into visiting malicious websites.