With the Winter Olympics set to begin on February 4 teams are now making their final preparations, which for many athletes will include picking up a new phone.
Many countries’ Olympic organizing committees, including Canada, have issued statements to their athletes advising them of cybersecurity precautions they should be making whilst in China.
The Canadian Olympic Committee’s (CoC) letter to their athletes said that these Olympics “present a unique opportunity for cybercrime,”. They went on to advise athletes to get new phones prior to arriving in Bejing so they can ensure there is as little personal data on each athlete’s phone as possible.
Canada is not alone in advising its athletes to be safe online with both the United States and the Netherlands issuing similar notices to their athletes.
Another cybersecurity concern unique to these games stems from the MY2022 app, which will be used by athletes and attendees as a COVID-19 tracking aid.
The app will also offer voice chats, file transfers and Olympic news.
Cybersecurity watchdog Citizen Lab has released a security review of the app which raised many concerns.
The MY2022 app will be required by all athletes and attendees of the 2022 Bejing Olympics. Photo: International Olympic Committee
In their report they say that although the app will be limited in the types of data it can collect from foreign users, it still has access to valuable information.
“For domestic users, MY2022 collects personal information including name, national identification number, phone number, email address, profile picture, and employment information and shares it with the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympics. For international users, the app collects a different set of personal identifiable information including users’ demographic information and passport information (i.e., issue and expiration dates) as well as the organization to which they belong.”
The app will be required for anyone who will be entering Olympic facilities in Bejing due to it’s role as the primary
