Lessons in incident response from the Olympics, World Cup

While the goal of every team is to keep possession, they often must hold the line, defend the goal and mount a comeback to win the game.

This is as true in cybersecurity as it is in sports.

Take high-profile events such as the Olympics or World Cup, for example. History has shown that these events, which draw billions of viewers, are ripe targets for the offense: cyberattackers.

Past events have been marred by phishing attacks, malware-ridden apps, fake social media accounts and spoofed domains, as well as DDoS attacks, hacktivism, state-sponsored attacks and infrastructure disruptions. The opening ceremony of the PyeongChang 2018 Olympics, for example, was notably disrupted by the Olympic Destroyer malware, which targeted Wi-Fi networks, ticketing systems and broadcasting infrastructure. The Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics were no exception. Italy confirmed it blocked a series of cyberattacks targeting its foreign ministry offices, Olympics websites and hotels in the ...