Hackers trying to make a way into Winter Olympics data: Report

NewsBharati    08-Jan-2018
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Seoul, January 8: Hackers are trying to make a way into Winter Olympics data, a top cyber-security firm has warned. Attempts have been made to steal sensitive data from groups involved with Pyeongchang Games. Even, malware-infected emails were sent last month. The security firm McAfee has warned more cyber-attacks could come before Olympics.

Several organizations received the e-mail including many groups associated with ice hockey. The majority of these organizations had some association with the Olympics, either in providing infrastructure or in a supporting role. The attackers appear to be casting a wide net with this campaign. The emails were sent from Singapore IP address with Korean texts.

The report says, the campaign to target Pyeongchang Olympics began December 22, 2017 with the most recent activity appearing December 28. The attackers originally embedded an implant into the malicious document as a hypertext application (HTA) file, and then quickly moved to hide it in an image on a remote server and used obfuscated Visual Basic macros to launch the decoder script. They also wrote custom PowerShell code to decode the hidden image and reveal the implant.

The more winter Olympics comes closer, the more hackers will become active. In recent past, another report also warned of probable cyberattacks on major sports events, especially Olympics. The report suggested that sporting event planners should consider the potential cybersecurity implications of any new technology.


Winter Olympics Cyberattack Hackers