Japan Olympics infrastructure experienced 450 million cyberattacks

  • By David Lukic
  • Nov 05, 2021

Cyberattacks targeting the Tokyo Olympic-related events broke previous records as the largest sporting competition went underway. Luckily, there were no hitches or disruptions as the Olympics began and concluded its 2020 edition.

What Were The Cyberattacks?

The Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) Corporation reported that the Tokyo 2020 Olympics infrastructure received 450 million attempted cyberattacks - 2.5 times more than the amount recorded during the London 2012 games. The attack types which took place from the opening of the Olympics on July 23 to the closing of the Paralympics on September 5 included malware, email phishing, and fake websites that cloned the official sites for the Games. The company also reported attacks on 5G, new to the Games, which targeted vulnerabilities in terminals.

Some of these were Olympics-themed giveaway scams on social media claiming to be giving away prizes after a victim inputs their personal details, leading to situations where your computer is infected with malware. Other methods included fake websites offering tickets and streaming services as well as fake Olympic survey pages.

Earlier in July, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released a warning that cyber actors could use

“distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, ransomware, social engineering, phishing campaigns, or threats to disrupt live broadcasts of the games, steal and possibly leak or hack sensitive data, or impact public or private digital infrastructure supporting the Olympics."
Japan Olympics cyber attack

How Did NTT Respond To The Attacks?

NTT shared that it successfully blocked the attacks with the help of 200 cybersecurity experts who had undergone rigorous training and simulations of potential attacks before the Games. As these threats were not unexpected, the company had forecast ransomware and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks from state-sponsored hackers.

NTT’s technique to protect the games included “ongoing danger intelligence tracking and analysis, SOC offerings, a whole safety answers bundle and a professional group of over 2 hundred cybersecurity specialists.” NTT stated it held a couple of cybersecurity training and ran simulations beforehand of the occasion to put together its cybersecurity group.

Who Was Responsible For The Attacks?

There has been no claim by anyone responsible party as attacks were carried out by countless cybercriminals, hackers, and other malicious actors.
NTT believes it was successful in maintaining security during the games thanks to key factors such as threat intelligence and monitoring, total security solutions, quality employee training, and stakeholder management.

What Is The NTT Corporation?

The Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, commonly known as the NTT, is a Japanese telecommunications company with its headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. The NTT was originally a government-owned corporation. It was established in 1952 and was privatized in 1985. Since then, the company has been venturing into new markets and developing leading-edge technologies.

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