Status: 07/13/2021 05:04 am
What if the lights go out during the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics? There is great fear of a successful cyber attack in Tokyo – and experts warn: Japan would be poorly armed against hackers.
By Torsten Iffland,
ARD studio Tokyo
Experts are convinced that the Summer Olympics in Tokyo will also be of interest to hackers. Especially since cracking Japan’s IT infrastructure should be child’s play, explains Toshio Nawa – he works as a cyber security advisor for the Japanese Olympic Committee. “My concern is much more how quickly we can fix the aftermath of such an attack.”
When it comes to cybersecurity, Japan is on a par with a developing country. If there are hacker attacks, these are quickly swept under the table. Some of the laws in the area of cyber crime are 50 years old. There are too few staff, too little money and too little structure. The secret services of autocratic neighboring states such as China, Russia and North Korea have been exploiting this for a long time.
Need help from other countries?
The fight against this often invisible opponent has been neglected in Japan for decades. Now that could take revenge. “I would like to say: finally wake up and see what’s going on in the world,” says Nawa. “You can’t correct that until the games. Japan must hope for help from other Western countries if problems arise.”
In Pyeongchang in South Korea – during the attack during the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Games – it took three days for the systems to run smoothly again. At that time, Russian hackers paralyzed the organizers’ website, among other things. For example, viewers could no longer print tickets.
Fear of attack on opening ceremony
The experts are certain that Japan would take significantly longer to repair such an attack. The new software for the ventilation system and air conditioning in the Olympic Village would be particularly attractive targets for hackers in Tokyo.
The embarrassment factor would be greatest in an attack during the opening ceremony: “The worst case would be if the whole system collapsed immediately after the opening ceremony: no sound, no light, no internet. The whole world is watching”, says Nawa. “If a hacker group manages to paralyze the event, it becomes a hero and an icon in the scene. That is what motivates these people.”
The big entrance for the people in the underground who attack systems as hackers – rarely are they given the opportunity as easily as during the Olympic Games in Tokyo.