Cybersecurity: How can businesses protect themselves wisely during (and after) the Olympic Games?

The attack surfaces will be multiplied during the Games. During this period, the government recommends that companies favor teleworking, mainly to limit employees coming to the office in view of the organization of transport.

The 2024 Olympics are fast approaching. Cybersecurity, which is already a major concern in France in normal times, will be even more so during this crucial period which is supposed to be festive. As other major events have shown in the past, cybercriminals tend to use the hype and media coverage they generate to launch attacks.

In recent months, the French digital landscape has faced increasingly recurring cyberattacks targeting both the public and private sectors, and warnings are increasing so that organizations can protect themselves as best they can in this tense context.

Cybersecurity during the Olympics: businesses on the front line facing risks

In the world of work, the protection of information and communications is a major issue. Many companies have already put measures in place to maintain optimal confidentiality, but the Olympic Games may create disruption in this reality.

Private companies, particularly those involved in the Games, are in the crosshairs, and must prepare to ensure the continuity of their servers while securing their data. During the last Olympic Games in Tokyo, more than 815 cyber incidents per second were recorded; for those which will take place in Paris, some cybersecurity professionals anticipate up to 10 times more.

Cybercriminals are continually on the lookout for opportunities, for reasons ranging from geopolitical conflict to marketing spoofed data on the Dark Web. An event of the magnitude of the Olympics can be an opportunity for these individuals to destabilize companies that are already cyber-failing, or are simply less prepared for this type of problem.

VSEs and SMEs are preferred targets, because they often invest less in cyber-resilience measures in proportion to their budget: cybersecurity is too rarely considered a priority, although it is more essential than ever. We also see this when some of these companies are hacked and see their IT services discontinued, which seriously handicaps their business. Therefore, prevention is better than cure.

The realities of digital risks during the Olympics

The attack surfaces will be multiplied during the Games. During this period, the government recommends that companies favor teleworking, mainly to limit employees coming to the office in view of the organization of transport.

If the majority of companies opt for this alternative, the impact will also be felt digitally. Those with little experience with remote working are at increased risk of having their employees relying on proprietary and potentially insecure hardware and software. It is therefore all the more important to secure communication channels centrally and independently of the points of arrival.

The primary source of communication for businesses, email is also the primary gateway for cybercriminals, who, for example, play on the inattention of employees by usurping the identity of real employees (notably “CEO fraud”) or by sharing malicious links in the email body.

On the other hand, the dissemination of official information from organizations, institutions and companies involved in the Games can make the identification of spam more complicated. This can be explained by the fact that many users receive few emails of this type in their daily life, and therefore have difficulty recognizing spam – or are simply less attentive in the heat of the moment (especially during of purchasing tickets).

We saw this during the pandemic: the proliferation of so-called “official” information, offers on highly demanded products such as respiratory masks or tests or tools dedicated to teleworking are all examples of methods favored by hackers to access personal computers or telephones, then corporate networks.

In the same vein, the risk of phishing by QR code will also be amplified, due to the large-scale use of this format as a means of communicating official information – and circulation (in Ile de France in particular).

These variables must be taken into account in order to further secure sensitive and confidential data. It is important to equip yourself with the right tools to guarantee better protection, which will certainly never be total, but sufficient to reduce the damage.

How to prepare your business to reduce risks?

There are resources that businesses can rely on in the face of cyberattacks. The cyber crisis management tutorial for companies published at the end of last year by the National Agency for Information Systems Security (ANSSI) is one of them.

This kit helps with preparation during the Olympics period, but remains applicable at any time. Some regions are also putting in place cyber protection systems for businesses in order to lend a hand to companies that do not have the capacity to do it themselves, or those that do not know where to start.

Internally, it is recommended that companies organize themselves to mitigate risks by dividing their networks. Outsourcing certain protection services is also a relevant strategy – especially when it comes to securing email flows, and ensuring their continuity in the event of an email infrastructure outage caused by cyberattackers. .

Using solutions that guarantee protection against phishing, spam or zero-day attacks is also a relevant investment. The use of cloud solutions is particularly suitable, because they operate completely independently of the company’s sites and the devices used.

On the other hand, they offer a variety of integrated and always-updating data sources, as well as AI-based technologies to detect even the most recent or previously unknown attack patterns. This is particularly important in the context of ongoing and evolving events such as the Olympic Games.

Additionally, the obligation to keep solutions up to date no longer lies with the company, but with the provider. In this way, new types of phishing, such as the QR codes mentioned above, can also be identified more easily.

The Olympics are a good exercise in cyber-resilience, especially when we know that the cyber-security context surrounding them is only the beginning of a new normal. It is clear that risk 0 will probably never exist, and companies will need to go beyond awareness to promote the use of innovative tools allowing them to anticipate and minimize risks.