Cyber terrorists aimed to disrupt Olympic opening ceremony

Posted on 8 Jul 2013 at 14:16, by Robert Jaques

The UK security authorities were warned to expect a cyber attack from hackers aiming to plunge last year's Olympic opening ceremony into darkness.

Spooks at the security and monitoring agency GCHQ are reported to have learnt about the planned attack just a short while before the start of the event that kicked off last summer's games.

Details of the threat were today made public after a UK newspaper published quotes from the London 2012 head of cyber security, who will be discussing the danger from the would-be cyber terrorists on a forthcoming BBC Radio 4 report.

Oliver Hoare, head of cyber security for the London 2012 Games, is quoted by

The Daily Mail as saying that officials feared the Olympic stadium lights could be switched off by a remote attack.

He reported that he was telephoned by GCHQ in the early hours of July 27, the day of the £27million opening ceremony with the warning.

Hoare revealed that there was evidence that "a credible attack" was being planned to take out the electricity supply supporting the event.

"The threat failed to materialise, but security officials have now revealed the extent of the precautions they took to make sure the celebrations went off without a hitch," according to the newspaper report.

"Mr Hoare said that extensive testing took place in anticipation of a wide range of attacks, including the exact scenario that raised concerns at GCHQ."

Search Result

LONDON (AP) Vital computer systems for London's 2012 Olympic Games have come under repeated cyber-attacks - but only from hackers who were invited to join ,Top athletes 'hand golden ticket to terrorists' by posting pictures of their security passes on Twitter. Competitors spark security fears with high-res ,UK authorities have revealed that they were warned to expect a cyber-attack aiming at disrupting the Olympics opening ceremony last year., but not the terrorists the government tells us did it London Olympics opening ceremony 2012 Posted by Cyber Attack Drill On Wall ,Olympics- Cyber attack With only 148 days until the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games we are in a good London 2012 Olympics: terrorists ,This summer's London Olympics "will not be immune" to cyber attacks by those seeking to disrupt the Games, a Cabinet minister warned today. Cabinet Office minister ,The 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony might have been threatened by a cyberattack aimed at cutting off the electricity, British officials revealed for the first ,Demonstrators disrupt Olympic torch to stay away from the opening ceremony. plotting with Muslim terrorists to disrupt the Olympics, ,London Olympics under threat from cyber attack Terrorists could use sophisticated the full musical playlist for the Olympic opening ceremony;,The UK security authorities were warned to expect a cyber attack from hackers aiming to plunge last year's Olympic opening ceremony into darkness. Spooks at the