Hackers attack Olympic Games venue, demand crypto ransom

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—by Protos Staff

A Paris Olympics venue is among 40 museums in France that were hacked last weekend and told that their financial data would be leaked unless a crypto ransom is paid.

According to Le Parisien, on August 3, the director of information systems for the Grand Palais Museum, which is hosting fencing and martial arts during this year’s Games discovered that the systems that centralize financial data for numerous French museums were being targeted by hackers.

He subsequently alerted the French cybersecurity agency, Agence nationale de la sécurité des systèmes d’information (ANSSI).

Interior of the Grand Palais as it hosts Olympic fencing.

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The as-yet-unnamed group behind the Olympic venue hack reportedly demanded a ransom in crypto and threatened to leak the data within 48 hours.

The French Anti-Cybercrime Brigade (BL2C) is now reportedly investigating an ‘attack on an automated data processing system, organized extortion, and criminal association with a view to committing a crime or offense punishable by five years’ imprisonment.’

Speaking about the hack, the ANSSI said, “this incident does not affect information systems involved in the running of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

The Louvre Museum, which was previously reported to have been impacted by the hack, has denied the claims. 

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