Experts are concerned that cyber hackers will take aim at the upcoming 20-21 Tokyo Olympic Games

Cybersecurity experts are raising the alarm that hackers may zero in on the upcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

The warnings follow numerous and high-profile cyberattacks over the past 12-months, some of which have taken companies’ infrastructure completely offline.

Speaking to The Hill, the Cyber Threat Alliance says “the Olympics are a huge opportunity for a country, in this case, Japan, to put its best foot forward, to show off”

The CTA warns:

“Any nation-state that is not aligned with Japan may see an opportunity here to try to embarrass Japan through a cyberattack”.

In a report published last year, the CTA details a number of potential cybersecurity threats against the 20-21 games, including disinformation, ransomware attacks and data leaks.

Back in 20-18, the Winter Olympics were subject to this type of attack, when Russian hackers infiltrated the Olympic networks prior to the opening ceremony.

The hackers managed to slow down the entry of spectators, took WiFi networks offline and tampered with the broadcast.

Should we be worried about Russian hackers targeting the games?

Russia is certainly viewed as one of the biggest threat to the games when it comes to this issue.

A representative from cybersecurity group FireEye says “as far as the cyber risks go, I think the most important threat is the risk of disruption by Russian actors.”

The games are due to kick off on July 23.