Beijing Winter Olympics athletes have every reason to worry about their cybersecurity
Along with their skis, winter wear, and N95 masks, athletes and support staff heading to the Beijing Winter Olympics, which kicks off in two weeks, should pack burner digital devices as experts warn about the potential of cybersecurity risks during their stay in China.
Despite diplomatic boycotts of the Games by several countries over China’s human rights record, many athletes from countries boycotting the event, including the US, will still be participating.
The US Olympic & Paralympic Committee has reportedly encouraged Team USA to use disposable phones in a bid to avoid coming home with surveillance malware on their regular phones, according to the Wall Street Journal. In addition, Olympic committees or associations in countries including Canada, the UK, and the Netherlands have also given similar advice, and in some cases issued temporary devices to their athletes.
Republican senator Marco Rubio last week sent a letter to president Joe Biden, asking the administration to explain the steps it is taking to protect US athletes from Beijing’s surveillance. In particular, Rubio raised concerns about the digital yuan, the sovereign digital currency that China is developing, noting that it is set to be rolled out more broadly at the Olympics, and that US vendors may be pressured into accepting it for payment, posing “enormous” risk to US nationals.
