The security of the Olympic Games in Paris promises to be a major issue for France in 2024, because they "
crystallize passions, attract a considerable public and attract all delinquencies
" starting with threats on the internet, according to the boss of the gendarmerie in cyberspace.
To discover
The results of the 2020 Olympics
The Olympic medal table
With this in mind, Gérald Darmanin chaired on Monday afternoon at the Ministry of the Interior the first interministerial committee on the security of the Olympics, which should mobilize substantial resources from the state.
General Marc Boget, commander of the gendarmerie in cyberspace, insists to AFP on the scale of the task that awaits the French security services for the smooth running, first of the Rugby World Cup in 2023 then of 2024 Games.
Multiple targets
“
During the Tokyo Games, there was only one challenge for the authorities, that of security and mainly the management of the cyber threat
,” he says. “
There were billions of cyber events identified and 70,000 verified alerts to be checked during the twenty days of the competition, ie 3,500 per day!
". Taking into account the increasingly complex electronic technologies which circulate on the Internet, Marc Boget estimates that there is mechanically an “
increase of the surface of vulnerability
” of these great popular and planetary events.
When he lists the possible targets, it's a frightening whirlwind. Starting with the infrastructure with "
for example blocking elevators or stopwatches measuring athlete performance, sabotaging stadium electrical installations, triggering a fire alarm every hour to prevent a particular team from sleeping before a competition. , etc
”.
There are also all the attacks that can affect rail, metro and air traffic. General Boget recalls that in June 2015, the planes of the Polish airline LOT had been grounded by a computer attack. Among the scenarios considered and possible according to the general, also appear the remote control of large screens in the stadiums to broadcast false warning messages triggering a general panic, the taking of control of surveillance cameras. All followed by suicide attacks. He also notes the attacks against the athletes themselves, ranging from the falsification of their medical data, to denigration with denunciation of cases of doping that are not doping, through the theft of the tactical strategy of a particular team. ...And of course everything related to the sports business, "
one of the biggest on the planet
”with hacking of transmission sites and media, fabrication of fake entrance tickets and ransom demands.
“
We need to take the cyber risk into account and set up collaborative work very early on with the intelligence services and hackers to infiltrate the networks
”.
"
We must add our strengths,
" he said.
Read alsoOJ 2024 in Paris: Macron wants to "put sport at the heart of the nation"
In mid-October, during the “
Security Directors
'
Gala
” bringing together private and public security actors around the challenge of the Olympic Games, the various speakers insisted on the need to “
accelerate
” and that “
everyone should go.
», In the words of the prefect Ziad Khoury, national coordinator for the security of the Games. Thomas Collomb, deputy director of security of the organizing committee of the Olympic Games-2024, called for the constitution of “
a French security team
”. “
France,” he said, “is a particularly exposed country. This sporting event must be festive and the rest
”.
General Boget, who should eventually oversee all the forces dedicated to the fight against cyberattacks, recommends the establishment of a "
cell to analyze possible scenarios of all threats, of an
" operational center of security "
and a
" H24 team of cyber firefighters "to analyze and counter threats during the competition.
Currently, there are 7,000 cyber investigators and their number will be increased to 10,000 in 2022, assures General Boget, welcoming that cybersecurity is "a real priority for President Macron and the Minister of the Interior"
.
But, he said,
"the situation is serious"
and
"we must not waste any more time."
