Winter Olympics Organizers Blame Cyber Attack for Server Shutdown During Opening Act
Feb. 11, 2018Cloud storage, gaming servers, government database and now the Winter Olympics, it seems that there is hardly any big-name event that’s shielded from cyber attacks these days.
Servers at the ongoing PyeongChang Winter Olympics were allegedly brought down by an unidentified hacker during the opening ceremony. According to areport, the Internet protocol televisions (IPTVs) at the Main Press Centre of the Winter Olympics started to malfunction during the event’s opening ceremony.
POCOG spokesperson Sung Baik-you said the cyber attack only affected the non-critical systems for a few hours, and at no time did it pose a threat to the‘safety and security of any athletes or spectators’.He further added,“We are currently investigating the cause and will share further information as we have more details.”Experts estimate that over 300 computing systems at the Main Press Centre were affected by the cyber attack, but so far, the attacker eludes the authorities.
This is not the first time that the Winter Olympics have been on the radar of cybercriminals, as in previous attacks, documents belonging to the Winter Olympics organization have were stolen and leaked. Speculation is North Korean hackers could have been involved given the proximity of the games venue, and the fact that North Korea and South Korea marched as a unified Korea during the opening ceremony, when the attack occurred.
