Olympics
RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS CHARGED IN US FOR PYEONGCHANG 2018 CYBER-ATTACK
Six Russian intelligence officers have been charged in the United States in an alleged global computer hacking operation that included the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang.
According to US Federal Prosecutors, the Russian officers unleashed corrupted software system known as “Olympic Destroyer” to disrupt the Pyeongchang 2018 Opening Ceremony.
It has been claimed that the Russian intelligence officers were planning a similar attack on this year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, which were subsequently postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The six Russians named are Yuriy Sergeyevich Andrienko, 32; Sergey Vladimirovich Detistov, 35; Pavel Valeryevich Frolov, 28; Anatoliy Sergeyevich Kovalev, 29; Artem Valeryevich Ochichenko, 27; and Petr Nikolayevich Pliskin, 32.
The defendants are charged with conspiracy to conduct computer fraud and abuse, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, damaging protected computers and aggravated identity theft in an indictment returned by a Federal Grand Jury in Pittsburgh.
They are all currently in Russia and it is unlikely they will ever face the charges in court.
Details of the attack on Pyeongchang 2018 were revealed today by America’s Assistant Attorney General John Demers, chief of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
Demers alleged that the operatives working for the Russian military intelligence service – known as the GRU – linked to Russia’s alleged campaign to interfere with the 2016 US election won by Donald Trump.
Today’s indictment does not include that event but does allege the group tried to disrupt the 2017 election in France and undermine Governments in Ukraine and Georgia, as well as sabotage computer networks during Pyeongchang 2018.
It is alleged that the Russian hackers were seeking retaliation by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decision to ban the country from competing under its own flag at Pyeongchang 2018 because of allegations of state-sponsored doping.
“No country has weaponised its cyber capabilities as maliciously and irresponsibly as Russia, wantonly causing unprecedented collateral damage to pursue small tactical advantages and to satisfy fits of spite,” Demers told a media conference in Washington D.C.
“The conspirators, feeling the embarrassment of international penalties related to Russia’s state-sponsored doping programme, i.e, cheating, took it upon themselves to undermine the Games.
“Their cyber-attack combined the emotional maturity of a petulant child with the resources of a nation state.”
The hack during the Pyeongchang 2018 Opening Ceremony on February 9 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 so they could attend the Opening Ceremony.
It is claimed that it was a “false-flag operation” by Russia’s military intelligence who had used data-deletion malware to launch the attack.
Organisers later claimed the attack had not compromised any critical part of their operations.
The allegations are not new but it is the first time that a foreign law enforcement agency has publicly accused the GRU of being behind the attacks.
Prosecutors have even made public the specific GRU building they believe the attacks emanated from – 22 Kirova Street in Moscow, which the Justice Department indictment refers to as “the Tower”.
At the same time in Britain, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and National Cyber Security Centre claimed the GRU had conducted cyber reconnaissance against organisers, logistics services and sponsors with the intent of compromising computer systems and sabotaging the running of Tokyo 2020.
Last year, Russia was handed a four-year ban from all major sports events, including the Olympics, by the World Anti-Doping Agency for manipulating athletes’ doping data involved in the original investigation into the allegations of state-sponsored doping.
An appeal against the decision is due to be heard at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne between November 2 and 5, but if Russia lose the country’s flag will be absent for a second consecutive Olympic Games at Tokyo 2020.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab condemned the actions of the Russian hackers carrying out the alleged attacks.
“The GRU’s actions against the Olympic and Paralympic Games are cynical and reckless,” he said.
“We condemn them in the strongest possible terms.
“The UK will continue to work with our allies to call out and counter future malicious cyber attacks.”
The IOC did not address the specific issue of the attack on Pyeongchang 2018 when asked for a comment by insidethegames.
“The IOC and the Organising Committees of the Olympic Games have identified cyber security as a priority area and invest a lot to offer the Olympic Games the best cyber security environment possible,” they said.
“Given the nature of the topic, we do not divulge those measures.”
-insidethegames
Athletes at the Milano Cortina Winter Games have raced through their free condom supply ahead of Valentine’s Day, leaving dispensers empty on Saturday, with more than a week of competition remaining.
According to a report by Reuters, organisers had distributed around 10,000 condoms across the city and mountain accommodation sites, continuing a long-standing Olympic tradition aimed at promoting safe relationships among competitors living in close quarters.
By Saturday, however, supplies had run out — adding Milan to a growing list of Olympic hosts where demand has comfortably exceeded expectations.
“Clearly, this shows Valentine’s Day is in full swing at the village,” International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams told a press conference. “Ten thousand have been used — 2,800 athletes — you can go figure, as they say.”
Adams added with a smile: “It is rule 62 of the Olympic Charter that we have to have a condoms story. Faster, higher, stronger, together.”
Milano Cortina organisers later acknowledged that stocks had been depleted due to “higher-than-anticipated demand,” but assured that additional supplies were already on the way.
“Additional supplies are being delivered and will be distributed across all Villages between today and Monday,” organisers said in a statement. “They will be continuously replenished until the end of the Games to ensure continued availability.”
The unexpected shortage also surprised some athletes.
Mexican figure skater Donovan Carrillo said he had only just heard about the situation. “I just saw that this morning. I was, like, shocked as everyone else,” he said.
Mialitiana Clerc, an alpine skier representing Madagascar, noted that boxes once placed at building entrances were quickly emptied.
“There were a lot of boxes at the entrance of every building where we were staying, and every day, everything had gone from the boxes,” Clerc said. “I already know that a lot of people are using condoms, or giving them to their friends outside of the Olympics, because it’s a kind of gift for them.”
While medals remain the official measure of achievement at the Games, the empty dispensers suggest that the social side of the Olympics is also proceeding at full pace.
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday awarded a top state honour to an Olympic skeleton racer who was disqualified from the Winter Games for wearing a helmet commemorating athletes killed in the war with Russia.
Zelenskiy, speaking to Vladyslav Heraskevych on the sidelines of the annual Munich Security Conference, said he had great respect for “all the Olympians who supported you and your position.”
“Medals are important for Ukraine and for you, but it seems to me that the most important thing is who you are,” Zelenskiy said while presenting the racer with the Order of Freedom.
Heraskevych told the president the award was “huge” and that the athletes depicted on the helmet “deserve it even more. Because of their sacrifice, we can compete in the Olympics.”
Heraskevych, 27, was disqualified at the Winter Games in Italy on Thursday when the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation jury ruled that the helmet’s depiction of athletes killed since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 breached rules on political neutrality.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed his appeal on Friday.
Heraskevych told reporters after the award ceremony that his disqualification was discriminatory as he had not violated the Olympic Charter, a document he said he “really valued.”
“But at the same time, I understand that this scandal has united people around the world about our problem and about the sacrifice of these great athletes, and I believe this goal is much more important than any medal,” he said.
Speaking before the CAS hearing earlier in the day, Heraskevych said his exclusion and rules imposed by the International Olympic Committee were “an instrument of propaganda for Russia. I still receive a lot of threats from the Russian side.”
-Reuters
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
Ukraine’s skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych was disqualified from the Milano Cortina Winter Games on Thursday over the use of a helmet depicting Ukrainian athletes killed in the war with Russia, the International Olympic Committee said.
He was informed of his disqualification after a meeting with IOC President Kirsty Coventry early in the morning at the sliding venue.
His team said they would appeal the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Coventry told reporters she had wanted to meet the athlete face to face in a last-ditch effort to break the impasse.
“I was not meant to be here but I thought it was really important to come here and talk to him face to face,” Coventry told reporters.
“No one, especially me, is disagreeing with the messaging, it’s a powerful message, it’s a message of remembrance, of memory.
“The challenge was to find a solution for the field of play. Sadly we’ve not been able to find that solution” she added, choking up.
“I really wanted to see him race, It’s been an emotional morning.”
The IOC offered him the opportunity to display his “helmet of remembrance” depicting 24 images of dead compatriots before the start and after the end of Thursday’s race at the Games, while also allowing him to wear a black armband while competing.
“I am disqualified from the race. I will not get my Olympic moment,” said Heraskevych.
The skeleton competition starts later on Thursday.
-Reuters
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
- WAFCON4 days ago
BREAKING: CAF Postpones WAFCON 2026
- OBITUARY5 days ago
Nigerian Sports Journalism Mourns Oyeniyi Oyeleke and Tonex Chukwu
- MLS1 week ago
Trump to Host Lionel Messi and Inter Miami at the White House
- World Cup5 days ago
‘I really don’t care’ if Iran plays in World Cup, Trump tells Politico
- World Cup4 days ago
Iraq’s World Cup Playoff in Doubt as War Disrupts Travel and Visa Processing
- FA Cup2 days ago
Eze thunderbolt guides Arsenal past Mansfield into FA Cup quarter-finals
- World Cup3 days ago
World Cup 2026: U-20 World Cup Winner Ouahbi Takes Charge of Morocco’s Atlas Lions
- MLS3 days ago
Trump celebrates Messi