London Olympic chiefs warned over threat of IT intrusions

2010-03-26

Cyber crime could pose a major threat to staging a successful Olympic Games in London in 2012, Sky News reports.

The UK capital is currently ramping up preparations after beating off competition from New York, Paris and Madrid in 2005 for the right to host the showcase event.

However, security experts have warned that hackers will be looking to target the Games through measures such as online ticket scams and taking over official sites.

Professor Peter Sommer, a cyber security expert at the London School of Economics, revealed that the IT intrusions could arrive in conjunction with physical attacks.

"There is what's called a 'blended attack', so there is a physical attack but it's made easier because someone is disrupting cyber systems at the same time, so that is the sort of scenario that people have got to worry about," he told the news provider.

Last year, former home secretary David Blunkett told the Infosecurity Europe conference that the London Olympics could face a co-ordinated attack from cyber criminals.

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