Visitors arriving at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics held in Russia anticipate cheering for the athletes that represent their country, but they may be unprepared for cyber-related risks that come with this high-profile event. With major hacking incidents originating in Russia in the past, Sochi visitors could have their personal information accessed the moment they log in to wireless networks using either their mobile or laptop devices. With visitors having to fend off cyberattacks by hackers and prepare for communication interceptions by a Russia's national surveillance system, they have to ready themselves for a lack of privacy protection.
In an experiment, NBC News reporter Richard Engel said hackers were able to access two brand new laptops in as little as a minute to determine the security of these devices, according to NBC News. As soon as he logged in to the devices, he received a phishing email message personalized to Engel, welcoming him to Sochi. Journalists may naturally want to check out this information, making them easy targets for phishing schemes designed to take over devices.
Engel said his computers might not be the only electronics hijacked during the Olympic Games as his cellphone was also accessed by hackers. He noted that cybercriminals in Russia use sophisticated hacking techniques that may lead to compromised data.
US-CERT: Assume lack of privacy during device communications
Before the Olympic Winter Games began, the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), which is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, alerted visitors about the risk of hackers trying to gain access to electronics. US-CERT said hackers may want to take valuable information, including login credentials, in order to profit off of it or try to send a political message by successfully infiltrating a major event such as the Olympics, according to the US-CERT website.
The organization also mentioned the constant presence of Russia's national surveillance system called System of Operative-Investigative Measures. This system allows Russia to collect information from electronic devices, including user location, which means visitors may have to cope with a lack of privacy protection during their stay.
"Reports of Rostelecom, Russia's national telecom operator, installing deep packet inspection (DPI) means authorities can easily use key words to search and filter communications," US-CERT said. "Therefore, it is important that attendees understand communications while at the Games should not be considered private."
US-CERT concluded that visitors should expect that any electronic device they bring to the games are susceptible to data breaches.
