Winter Olympics face cyber risks, Russian cyberattacks already foiled

Experts say that the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, officially starting on Friday night, will be among the most digitally complex global events, making it a prime target for cyberattacks. Local authorities say cyber incidents have already begun.

Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said this week that the host country has foiled “Russian origin” cyberattacks targeting the Winter Olympics.

According to him, websites linked to the Games, hotels in the host town of Cortina d’Ampezzo, and foreign ministry facilities, including an embassy in Washington, were targeted.

Retribution for sporting sanctions?

“We prevented a series of cyberattacks against foreign ministry sites. These are actions of Russian origin,” said Tajani.

France 24 reported that roughly 120 targets were affected, including consulates in Sydney, Toronto, and Paris, as well as hotels where winter sports athletes are staying. The attacks did not cause significant disruption.

That’s not entirely a shock. Russia, together with its vassal state Belarus, were thrown out of the Olympics and Winter Olympics after the Kremlin sent troops to neighboring Ukraine in 2022.

Since then, Russian state-sponsored hacking groups, often supervised by security services, have been attacking “unfriendly” countries and organizations in the West.

Indeed, soon after Tajani’s announcement, the pro-Russian hacker group NoName057(16) claimed responsibility for the attacks, describing the campaign as retaliation for Italy’s support for “Ukrainian terrorists.”

The group relies on relatively simple but disruptive distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, usually mobilizing hundreds of ideologically aligned volunteers and a loose network of servers. Not much harm is usually caused.

Stay safe if you’re in Italy for the Winter Olympics

However, cybersecurity experts say that the security forces working in the Winter Olympics are actually contending with a multi-vector threat landscape.

The greatest risks stem from familiar tactics such as phishing, spoofed websites, and business email compromise, which exploit human trust rather than technical flaws.

“With billions of viewers and a vast network of cloud services, vendors, and connected systems, the games create an expansive attack surface under intense operational pressure,” Flashpoint’s threat analysts said in a blog post.

The greatest risks stem from familiar tactics such as phishing, spoofed websites, and business email compromise, which exploit human trust rather than technical flaws.

According to the researchers, a mix of cybercriminals, advanced persistent threats, and hacktivists is expected to exploit the event for financial gain, espionage, or publicity.

“As the Games proceed, the intersection of cyber-sabotage and physical protest remains the most likely source of operational disruption,” Flashpoint says.

If you’re in Italy for the event, you should download official apps and secure your digital footprint by avoiding public Wi-Fi, using a VPN, and ensuring that Multi-Factor Authentication is active on all your ticketing and banking accounts.

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