FBI Urges Athletes to Keep Personal Devices at Home, Use Burners During Beijing Winter Olympics
FBI urges athletes to keep personal devices at home, use burners during Beijing Winter Olympics:
In a notice released on Monday, the FBI warned Olympic athletes about bringing their devices to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and March 2022 Paralympics while also raising concerns about the potential for cyberattacks against the event.
In a wide-ranging alert, the FBI said entities associated with the games should prepare for "a broad range of cyber activities to disrupt these events", including distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, ransomware, malware, social engineering, data theft or leaks, phishing campaigns, disinformation campaigns, or insider threats.
The attacks would seek to "block or disrupt the live broadcast of the event, steal or leak sensitive data, or impact public or private digital infrastructure supporting the Olympics."
"Additionally, the FBI warns Olympic participants and travelers of potential threats associated with mobile applications developed by untrusted vendors. The download and use of applications, including those required to participate or stay in country, could increase the opportunity for cyber actors to steal personal information or install tracking tools, malicious code, or malware," the FBI said.
"The FBI urges all athletes to keep their personal cell phones at home and use a temporary phone while at the Games. The National Olympic Committees in some Western countries are also advising their athletes to leave personal devices at home or use temporary phones due to cybersecurity concerns at the Games. The FBI to date is not aware of any specific cyber threat against the Olympics, but encourages partners to remain vigilant and maintain best practices in their network and digital environments."
The FBI noted that during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, the NTT Corporation -- which provided its services for the Tokyo Olympic & Paralympic Games -- revealed there were more than 450 million attempted cyber-related incidents during the event.
NTT officials told ZDNet in October that none of the attacks were successful and added that the games went on without a hitch, but the number of attacks was 2.5x the number seen during the 2012 London Summer Olympics.
[...] the UK, Australia, and Germany have all urged their citizens to leave all of their personal devices and laptops at home over concerns that they will be hacked or monitored by the Chinese government both during the games and once they go home. The Dutch Olympic Committee has already banned its citizens from bringing their devices to the games.
FBI Urges Temporary Phones for Olympic Athletes
FBI urges temporary phones for Olympic athletes:
[...] The warning comes after a similar one from cyber-security group Citizen Lab.
Earlier this month, it looked into the official app for the Olympics - which people attending are required to download for Covid health monitoring purposes.
Its report suggested:
- it was insecure when it came to protecting personal data.
- an encryption flaw enabled a third party to access documents, audio and files
- it was subject to censorship based on a list of keywords
- its privacy policy was not clear about who received and processed any data uploaded to it.
China dismissed the concerns.
The games run from 4 February to 20 February, with around 3,000 athletes competing in 109 different events. The Winter Paralympics run from 4 March to 13 March.
The Chinese government is spending $3.9n (£2.9bn) on the Games, which take place in and around Beijing. Human rights groups have called on governments to boycott both, over the treatment of Uyghur people in China.
Some, including the UK, the US and Canada, have said they will not send government delegates to attend the event.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 03 2022, @01:33AM (2 children)
"...prepare for "a broad range of cyber activities to disrupt these events", including distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, ransomware, malware, social engineering, data theft or leaks, phishing campaigns, disinformation campaigns, or insider threats."
And God knows what the Chinese are going to be up to.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 03 2022, @02:54AM (1 child)
Why didn't the organizers (Chinese gov't) just provide a "company" smart phone for every athlete. They could preload it with any sort of snooping/monitoring software they wanted -- for overt (covid tracking) and covert means. The athletes could decide on their own whether they wanted to turn on their personal phones once they got to China...
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday February 04 2022, @01:42AM
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 03 2022, @01:39AM (6 children)
when entering the United States..
Why take the chance?
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 03 2022, @02:03AM
Who's the asshole that modded that down?! Fucking customs will steal your phone/laptop if you don't give them the password
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 03 2022, @03:32AM
Great Firewall of China can't keep out the Mighty aristarchus! Only SoylentNews can do that. And did. If you want to #freearistarchus so he can save the Olympics, (they're Greek, after all), go look up some older comments by him, and mod them up. He cannot post any now, this is the only way to restore our fellow soylentil. Upmod the aristarchus, for great justice!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 03 2022, @05:52AM
We recommend the same when traveling anywhere. Even if you believe that you will be fine from a governmental attack, why take a chance on the thousands of other things that can go wrong. Those are compounded because you may not have the ability to get effective help from the local police or a trustworthy place to use the location service. It is also a lousy time to find out that your device isn't backed up.
(Score: 3, Informative) by corey on Thursday February 03 2022, @09:16AM
Yeah, and Australia for that matter. Lots of reports on Reddit of people’s phone being taken and the people required by law to give passwords or unlock the phone.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 03 2022, @12:26PM
More or less when crossing into any other country where you are stopped and searched at the border or could be. Don't bring a laptop, don't bring a phone. If you do then bring new and empty once that can be ditched afterwards. Or get new once once in country.
(Score: 1) by mexsudo on Thursday February 03 2022, @02:27PM
we have been doing exactly that for several years.
Mexico into the USA... only bring a freshly wiped burner cellphone
if they hack it or take it no big deal
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 03 2022, @03:08AM (4 children)
Niggers because.
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 03 2022, @03:13AM (3 children)
Why Niggers because?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 03 2022, @03:42AM (1 child)
Because aristarchus is too tired for real high-effort trolling, he's only doing driveby racism today.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 03 2022, @09:52AM
Aristarchus never does racism, he only does anti-racism, like CRT, and calling white trash racist motherfuckers "racist". Seems to piss them off. Maybe we can ban that?
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 03 2022, @03:52AM
(Score: 2) by legont on Thursday February 03 2022, @04:50AM (1 child)
FBI will be scanning their devices.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday February 03 2022, @03:44PM
That may be true, but when the FBI does it, it is for the person's own good. Unlike when China does it. Because the FIB are the good guys.
The server will be down for replacement of vacuum tubes, belts, worn parts and lubrication of gears and bearings.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 03 2022, @06:12AM (1 child)
The real reasons:
Because using own mobiles while in China will potentially reveal spook spyware home locations.
Because anything about China MUST be negative because we all have to learn to hate China to the maximum.
Brainwashing? Yes.
But doesn't only China do that? No.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday February 03 2022, @07:20PM
Just 'cause I might get robbed at home doesn't mean I flash a bunch of cash around while abroad...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 03 2022, @01:59PM
...to go to these games anyway?
Sounds like torture from the time you start planning till the time you get back home.
Maybe Facepuke, (err Meta) can host the next Olympic games inside their vomit inducing headset instead.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 03 2022, @02:47PM (2 children)
one must conclude that usa itself has a "great wall of freedom" somewhere to keep the chinese internet out ...
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday February 03 2022, @03:45PM (1 child)
Something called a Walled Garden can also be called a Prison Camp.
The server will be down for replacement of vacuum tubes, belts, worn parts and lubrication of gears and bearings.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 03 2022, @05:00PM
> ... the microchips are not in the vaccine but are in the Urine! Ouch!
I must have been given Apple microchips, rounded corners are relatively painless(grin).