The sentence, dropped at the microphone of TF1 by the Head of State, has been agitating the media for several days, but also the Russian propaganda channels. During the inauguration of the Olympic Aquatic Center, in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis), on April 4, Emmanuel Macron assured that he had not ” no doubt “ on the fact that Russia could target the Paris Olympic Games, “including in informational terms”.
The event represents a major challenge in terms of IT security. For several weeks, the millions of people expected – athletes, spectators, journalists, officials – will not only depend on the technical infrastructure of Paris 2024, but also on the multitude of services (transport, health, etc.) whose proper functioning will be crucial.
In 2018, during the Winter Games in Pyeongchang (South Korea), malware – a worm – designed to infect large computer networks disrupted the opening ceremony, making certain systems inaccessible. The American Department of Justice subsequently named the perpetrators: “Sandworm”, the nickname given to Russian military intelligence unit 74455 (GRU), known for its involvement in numerous espionage and sabotage campaigns. .
“Sabotage operations are the ones that gave rise to the greatest number of scenarios to which we devoted a lot of energy”explains to World Franz Regul, head of information systems security at Paris 2024. “We are not immune from States wanting to damage the image of France, wishing to send messages, or even attacking the opening ceremony”, warned, at the end of 2023 in the columns of the newspaper West Francethe head of the National Information Systems Security Agency, Vincent Strubel.
Prevent any intrusion
State actors represent a major challenge: equipped with extensive resources, they can prepare targeted attacks, taking up to several months of preparation to take control of a computer network.
Paris 2024 and its private partners, Eviden (Atos) and Cisco, are responsible for securing the critical infrastructures of the Games: i.e. “technology used directly for access control, broadcasting, arbitration, timing”, but also “the information systems necessary to operate on a daily basis”such as office automation and human resources, explains Franz Regul.
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