Paris Games leading to boom in cybersecurity spending
Unprecedented level of threats will be launched during the Paris Olympic Games that open later this month. There will be a variety of financial and political motives targeting not only the Olympic Games but also unrelated organisations. Spending on cybersecurity services will increase $94 million this year only in France, a report from research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) shows..
“The Paris Olympic Games will see the largest number of threats, the most complex threat landscape, the largest ecosystem of threat actors, and the highest degree of ease for threat actors to execute attacks”, IDC says..
“Paris 2024 will be the most connected Games ever, including but not limited to back-of-house systems, financial systems, critical national infrastructure, city infrastructure, sport technology, broadcast technology, and merchandising and ticketing.”
“And while risk is clearly highest for venues and other assets used directly for the Games, it permeates outward and seemingly unrelated assets can come under attack, including critical national infrastructure and many French businesses.”
Outside of France, IDC expects security services revenue in the rest of Europe will increase by $57 million in 2024 as a result of the hosting of the Olympic Games in Paris.
“Cybercriminals are leveraging global sporting events like the Olympic Games to craft new targeted threats to businesses and citizens, knowing that their target is often distracted and more prone to social engineering,” says Richard Thurston, research manager at IDC.
“We can expect to see an unprecedented level of threats launched during the Paris Olympic Games supporting a variety of financial and political motives targeting not only the Olympic Games but also unrelated organisations”.
“The threat extends to a wide range of potential targets beyond the Olympic infrastructure itself, including things like fixed and mobile networks in Paris, transportation infrastructure and companies, hotels and the leisure industry, and financial networks”.
“Organisations can expect threat actors to deploy a full array of tactics, techniques and procedures, such as ransomware and data exfiltration, exploiting application vulnerabilities, social engineering, tailored phishing attacks, and denial-of-service attempts aimed at taking down online services.”
In preparation for the Olympics, a national service (ANSSI) was created responsible for the prevention of cyberattacks at the Games.
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