This week marked the closing of the Winter 2022 Olympic Games, hosted in Beijing, China. To be honest, I’m more of an avid watcher of the Summer Games since they feature more intense races and team-based sports. Even though I’m not a huge fan of winter sports, I did find some time to watch the ice skating performances, and I definitely cringed at some of the dangerous crashes in other sports. While the specific sports didn’t quite pique my interest this year, something else did: the use of phones during the Olympics in Beijing.
According to BBC, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) urged athletes to bring burner phones to the Games, and to leave their personal devices at home, citing insufficient security. Some concerns of the FBI included “ransomware,” “denial of service attacks,” and “malware, data theft and the installation of ‘tracking tools’ on mobile devices.” While the FBI mentioned that there was no evidence of any specific threats to athletes’ mobile phones, they still warned athletes out of an abundance of caution. The U.S. intelligence community is not the only one to express concerns about security in China; other Western nations have also urged their athletes to use burner phones and practice caution.
After a deeper look into the official Olympics app, cybersecurity experts found that there were multiple vulnerabilities: “it was insecure when it came to protecting personal data,”
“an encryption flaw enabled a third party to access documents, audio and files,” “it was subject to censorship based on a list of keywords,” and “its privacy policy was not clear about who received and processed any data uploaded to it.” BBC reports that China was dismissive of these relevant concerns. With over 3000 athletes competing in the games, and over 150,000 spectators, these vulnerabilities are certainly no joke, especially when all involved are required to download the app for COVID-19 health monitoring purposes.
Concerns with security while within China’s borders are no surprise. According to Fergus Hanson, Director of Cyber Policy at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, “For anyone that visits China, you have to anticipate that everything that you do on an electronic device has been taken […] The level of security you have got there is very low.” China, which last hosted the Olympic Games in the summer of 2008, has seen many changes in terms of technology. China and its government have bolstered artificial intelligence technology, grown and produced technology giants, imposed surveillance and censorship on devices used by their citizens, and groomed hackers who work for the government.
Despite their harsh censorship rules, the Chinese government has “dismantled the country’s firewall, which blocks a long list of websites, including Google, Wikipedia, Netflix, and most foreign news media and services,” which allows media outlets to report on the Games and athletes to post updates on their social media. While the decrease in censorship through technology allows for some freedom, athletes and other people were advised not to criticize China. Yang Shu from the International Relations Department of the Beijing Games explained, “Any expression that is in line with the Olympic spirit I’m sure will be protected, and anything and any behavior or speeches that are against the Olympic spirit, especially against Chinese laws and regulations, are also subject to certain punishment.”
With technology security becoming more relevant, it begs the question: will future Olympic Games be hosted in China? At this rate, it may be difficult for China to justify its weak security on apps and heavy surveillance of athletes for future Games.
Technically Speaking is an Opinion culture column used to discuss topics relating to technology, such as pop culture, trends, social media, or other relevant subject matter.
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