Russia Allegedly Hacked Pyeongchang Olympics, Tried to Pin Blame on North Korea

By Edward Leano, Christian Post Contributor Tuesday, February 27, 2018

U.S. officials are claiming that the Russian military is connected to a spate of cyber attacks on some important systems used in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. These Russian spies also reportedly attempted to make it look like North Korea was to blame.

Officials in PyeongChang, meanwhile, confirmed that the Winter Olympics was hit with cyber intrusions starting from the Feb. 9 Opening Ceremonies, as the Washington Post reports. Although South Korea had refused to comment on whether Russia was responsible for the attack, U.S. intelligence officials are now pointing to Russian military spies as the likely culprit.

Hundreds of computers in use by authorities to conduct the Winter Olympic Games were hacked, according to the two U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The result was general disruptions to Internet services in the area, as well as problems with broadcast streaming, tickets and booking systems, and even the Olympics website itself.

While the U.S. sources point to Russia as the source of the attack, they also alleged that the country's military spies also tried to cover it up in such a way that North Korea might take the blame, in what they call a "false-flag" operation.

Russia was implicated by rumors to be behind the hacks, even before the report, supposedly because the country has the motive after being barred from the Olympic Games due to a systemic doping scandal, as Gizmodo notes.

The scandal, which was also linked to the Russian state government as being behind the doping, eventually resulted in 169 of Russian delegates having to compete under another flag.

According to the U.S. officials, Russia's intelligence agency had access to as many as 300 computers vital to the Olympics at one point, in early February.