France’s Sports Minister’s X Account Hacked

A breach occurred on the X account belonging to Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, in anticipation of Paris’s readiness to host the 2024 Olympics

Although an atypical intrusion into the X account of the French sports minister was promptly detected and thwarted, it highlighted the criticality for French authorities to be ready for an array of cyber threats during their hosting of the Olympics in July.

Over the weekend, the photo on the account of French Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra was altered, according to some X users. A chief executive officer of a technology company reported receiving an odd English message from that account, which warned that he violated the social media company’s policies and that his account would be terminated unless he selected a link to dispute that determination.

On Monday, the minister’s office informed French channel BFMTV that her account was “the target of a hack” late Friday night but that access was “quickly restored” following ANSSI and X’s intervention in France.

French authorities refrained from disclosing any information about the identity of the potential perpetrators, the underlying motivation, or the magnitude of the breach.

Cybersecurity experts referred to the assailants’ alteration of the profile picture as peculiar and unusual because it is not typical for state-sponsored hacking threats.

ANSSI declined to comment on a “potential ongoing attack,” and the minister’s office did not respond to a request for additional comment from the Washington Post on Monday. Her team informed BFMTV that “security measures were implemented to bolster the account” and that an investigation was underway.

According to John Hultquist, chief analyst at Mandiant Intelligence, a cybersecurity firm, the fact that an individual who had gained access to the account of a government minister would have jeopardized detection with such blatantly bogus phishing scammers is peculiar.

According to him, particulars of the case were inconsistent with what one might anticipate from a significant threat, such as Russian agents, and it was premature to speculate on the incident’s ramifications at this time.

However, he further stated that the Olympics constituted “a significant target” and that social media platforms might be utilized in “operations intended to undermine the event.”

Access to official accounts, according to Betsy Cooper, founding director of the Aspen Tech Policy Hub, “certainly exemplifies the spectrum of cybersecurity concerns that French officials would be preoccupied with in the run-up to the Games.”

She said that preventing fraudulent ticket sales or breaches that could “call the entire outcome of the Olympic Games into question,” such as those that target digitized scoring systems, and ensuring the security of venues will be the highest priorities.

Confident analysts have projected that the number of cyber attack attempts targeting this Olympics could be ten times greater than the number that targeted the Tokyo Olympics three years prior.

A gray checkmark signifying authenticity and authority on the account of a government official, such as the sports minister, could be utilized to gain unauthorized access to information that could compromise the public or erode public confidence. Other forms of attacks, however, may have a more immediate effect on the Games.

A repetition of the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, where health information of athletes was released, or the 2018 Winter Games in South Korea, where a cyberattack disrupted broadcast systems and ticket access, is what French officials hope to prevent.

It was hypothesized that Russian operatives were responsible for both, in addition to an email leak that occurred just before the 2017 French election.

Technology, including low-cost drones, which could aid in physical assaults or enable criminals to bypass barriers and checkpoints, is another source of concern for French authorities.