Were Tokyo Olympic Games Target to Cyber Attack?

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The Olympic Games have always been targeted by cyber threat actors looking to capitalize on the event. The Japanese government has been bracing itself for a greater intensity of cyber attacks during the Tokyo Olympic Games than those launched against the Rio and London games. In fact, it has been unveiled by a local government official that the user names and passwords of the Olympic Games ticket holders and event volunteers were reportedly leaked online.

The official told Kyodo news agency on condition of anonymity that the stolen credentials could be used compromising personal data such as names, addresses, and bank account numbers. Claiming that the scale of the data leak was “not large”, the official said measures were taken to prevent further spread of the compromised data.

The Japanese government and the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee, have conducted cybersecurity exercises, such as Cyber ​​Colosseum, to simulate potential attacks, both in cities and rural areas. Earlier this year, it also trained 220 white hat hackers from Japanese ICT firms such as NTT and NEC in a security training program.

Mihoko Matsubara, the chief cybersecurity strategist at NTT, noted in a February 2021 report on Japan’s cybersecurity strategy for Tokyo 2020, that the coronavirus pandemic has complicated ways to secure the event both physically and virtually.

With over 90% of Tokyo 2020 organizing committee members working from home to prevent Covid-19 infections, Matsubara said it was important to secure not only Tokyo 2020-related infrastructure such as electricity, transportation, and venues, but also remote work environments, as reported by  computerweekly.com.