The US and the UK have claimed that the possible motive behind cyber attacks could be the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) decision to ban Russia from participating in the Games due to large-scale dope issues.
After the UK and the US had raised the issue, Japan has it will be taking necessary steps to thwart such attacks. (Reuters image)
The US and the UK are believing that Russia has been planning to carry out a cyberattack on Tokyo Olympics. Tokyo Olympics was originally scheduled to take place from July 24 to August 9 in 2020. The Tokyo Olympics had to be postponed due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. Tokyo Olympics will now be held from July 23 to August 8, 2021.
These apprehensions were raised after the US Justice Department had charged six Russian hackers for allegedly carrying out a number of cyber-attacks across the globe. The charges also included hacking on the 2018 Winter Olympics held in Pyeongchang of South Korea. These revelations came even as the British government claimed that those Russian hackers had made similar attempts of a cyber attack on the Tokyo Olympics.
Just a few moments before the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics 2018, the official website of Games went offline. After the ceremony began the WiFi and all televisions installed inside the main Olympic stadium became defunct. In 2018, Winter Olympics organizers revealed that it was a cyber attack but chose not to divulge too many details.
Earlier this week, British intelligence officers and the US Justice Department prosecutors have revealed that the military intelligence agency of Russia known as the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) had projected itself as Chinese and North Korean hackers with an aim to disrupt the 2018 Winter Games. The GRU has a unit named 74455. This unit is also known as ‘VoodooBear’ and ‘Sandworm’. The GRU unit 74455 was allegedly behind the hacking on the US Presidential Elections 2016.
The US and the UK have claimed that the possible motive behind cyber attacks could be the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) decision to ban Russia from participating in the Games due to large-scale dope issues. After the UK and the US had raised the issue, Japan has it will be taking necessary steps to thwart such attacks. Meanwhile, Moscow has rejected all allegations as “Russophobia”.
After the UK and the US had raised the issue, Japan has it will be taking necessary steps to thwart such attacks. (Reuters image)
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