Organizers of this year’s Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia, have expressed concern over the potential of cyber attacks affecting major events such as the opening and closing ceremonies.
It follows the problems experienced during February’s Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang when a virus dubbed the “Olympic Destroyer” used duplicated software to cover its tracks, Insidethegames reported.
The Olympic Destroyer hack took down WiFi during the opening ceremony at Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium on February 9 and also affected several broadcasts of the event by knocking out television screens.
Additionally, it affected the Pyeongchang 2018 websites, leaving fans unable to print tickets or view results of events.
To prevent such incidents, Jakarta Palembang chairman, Erick Thohir said, “we will be assisted by a team of 30 members from the Communications Ministry and its cyber experts. The Cyber Agency will also form a shadow team that is not under our team.”
The identity of the cyber attack on Pyeongchang 2018 was never revealed, but there were rumors at the time about Russian and North Korean involvement.
Thohir explained that they are collaborating with the Ministry of Communications and Informatics, State Cyber and Encryption Agency, the Indonesian Police and the Indonesian Armed Forces to prevent cyber attacks.
Jakarta Palembang 2018 IT director Edy Prabowo claims they have a back-up system which can be introduced via a signal.
“We have held an information technology audit from the Asian Olympic Council,” he said.
The Asian Games are due to take place from August 18 until September 2.
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