This year's Summer Olympics may be hit by cyberattacks

May 27, 2021 09:23 GMT  ·  By

According to Masatoshi Fujitani, president of the Tokyo-based Japan Forum for Strategic Studies (JFSS), the Summer Olympics in Tokyo are likely be the targeted by cyberattacks. Based on E Hacking News, the attacks are going to be originating from Russia.

Mr. Fujitani, a former senior police official in Japan, published an article in the online newspaper JB Press, based on the background of the hacker group DarkSide, which was allegedly involved in the attack on the largest U.S. gasoline pipeline, the Colonial Pipeline, and is linked to Russia.

The Japanese expert states "In Japan, we have already started training "white hackers" and creating government hacker organizations".

The JFSS Director calls on developed countries such as Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom to take immediate action in partnership with public and commercial trade groups working on cyber defense.

Mr. Fujitani summarizes evidence from Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky and others that the new hacking group DarkSide is avoiding attacks on websites in Russian, Ukrainian, Georgian, and Belarusian.

Hackers targeted Olympic Games last year and three years before

He notes as well that DarkSide is not the only hacker group that conducts cyberattacks on Japan. He claims that in October 2020, "the GRU of Russia allegedly conducted a cyberattack on people and organizations planning to participate in the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo", and that in February 2018, the GRU carried out a cyberattack on the Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang in South Korea".

It appears to be the retaliation for the exclusion of Russian teams from the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang and Tokyo over widespread doping allegations. We expect massive cyberattacks on the Tokyo Olympics, he adds.

It is worth mentioning that anti-Russian sentiment in Japan increased after Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Sugi's visit to Washington in mid-April when he met with President Joe Biden.

Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo are scheduled to begin on July 23 and last until August 8, 2021.