EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The job of any CISO is hard. Challenges abound and are dynamic. But when you are responsible for a major event like the Super Bowl or the Olympics, it’s game on. Imagining the strategic planning and tactical efforts to secure not only the organizations, but the ticket buyers, sponsors, etc., can be dizzying. As the Olympics kick off on Friday, you can bet that security–both cyber and physical–will be tight.
As Nicole Perlroth writes in The New York Times, “Just how those hacks could lead to broader attacks is not clear. But cybersecurity researchers said the Olympic Games — more digitized than ever — are ripe targets for hackers searching for embarrassing information on everyone from athletes to organizers or simply looking to cause trouble by manipulating scoring or lighting systems.”
Last month we reported on a phishing campaign aimed at Olympics organizers. Now, Perlroth reports that at least 300 Olympics-related computer systems have already been hit.
In an interview with Emy Donavan, the head of cybersecurity for Allianz Global and Corporate Specialty, Dan Patterson from TechRepublic digs into the thinking that goes into securing major events. Some of the key concerns:
- Malicious actors trying to provide counterfeit ticket information to gain access to events in restricted areas.
- Attempts to take down the event and prevent at-home viewers from watching, which can create income loss around the advertisers and trigger other costs for promoters and the committees involved.
- Hacking into the internal network to create confusion or cast doubt on results. With the Olympics, especially, the security of the internal network becomes crucial because of the IoT devices that connect to it to provide finish line times and other key details.
Reportedly, security for the South Korea Olympics will far surpass what has been done in the past.
Get the full story at TechRepublic.