Security News > 2022 > January > FBI warns of 2022 Beijing Olympics cyberattack, privacy risks
The Federal Bureau of Investigation warned today that threat actors could potentially target the February 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and March 2022 Paralympics.
"The FBI to date is not aware of any specific cyber threat against the Olympics, but encourages partners to remain vigilant and maintain best practices in their network and digital environments," the US security service said in a private industry notification issued on Tuesday.
As the FBI explained in the TLP:WHITE PIN, attacks coordinated by financially motivated or nation-state threat actors targeting the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics could involve malware delivery, distributed denial of service attacks, ransomware, social engineering, phishing campaigns, and even insider threats.
If successful, such attacks could disrupt or block live broadcasts of the event, exfiltrate sensitive information after breaching IT systems, or impact private or public digital infrastructure supporting the Olympics.
This warning follows a similar one issued last year regarding potential cyberattack risks surrounding the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics, which were the first to be transmitted exclusively via digital platforms and TV broadcasts due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
FBI also addresses these privacy risks in today's PIN, advising athletes to install the My 2022 application on temporary devices.