Organisers of the Paris Olympics have reportedly been sent into ‘meltdown’ just days before the Games are due to begin.
The sporting world has already started to descend on the French capital ahead of Friday’s ambitious opening ceremony, which is set to take place on the iconic River Seine.
Finishing touches are being made to Paris’ Olympic Games plans, but in the final week ahead of the start date, alarm bells have been raised.
Last week’s Crowdstrike outage, which sparked chaos around the globe, has heightened fears about a potential Russian cyberattack, according to The Times.
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The report claims the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) technology chief was made aware of the Crowdstrike issue late Thursday night after their operating systems had gone into ‘meltdown’.
One of the online areas impacted by the failure was the accreditation system, which is said to have not been available for those looking to access details on Friday morning.
It’s claimed the IOC were able to persuade Crowdstrike – an American cybersecurity firm – to ‘prioritise’ the Games’ systems, because of the close proximity of the event in Paris.
While the Crowdstrike issue was confirmed to be non-malicious, organisers remain wary about any cyber-related attacks, specifically those led by Russia.
Russian hackers were traced back to a malware attack that saw harmful attachments sent to organisers of the 2018 Winter Olympics, with reports the postponed 2020 Tokyo Games were also a target.
Given Paris 2024’s reliance on computer systems, any similar issues during the meet would likely bring the Games to a complete standstill.
Paris 2024 is set to be the first Olympics with a fully digital ticket system, while all results are computerised, meaning any outages would pose a threat to the legitimacy of the competition.
Russian attacks have been singled out as a particular problem for organisers because of the country’s patchy record with the IOC.
Following a World Anti-Doping Agency commission report in 2015, Russia was accused of running a state-supported doping programme – something the Russian government vehemently denies.
Athletes were banned from officially competing under the Russian flag for the 2018, 2021 and 2022 Games – a ban that was later reduced by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
However, due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, a select number of Russian athletes will compete in Paris, with the IOC stating only those who ‘have not indicated support for the invasion of Ukraine or who are not linked to state military or security services’ can be involved.
