Cyber Spies Boost For London Olympics

Spooks

Huffington Post UK   First Posted: 05/12/11 11:38 Updated: 05/12/11 16:19

London will get a boost of cyber spies right in time for the Olympics. The digital spooks will be on the look out for fraud against ticket sellers, hotel booking systems, and flights during London 2012.

Peter Ricketts, the government's National Security Advisor told The Times that the security services are "ready for everything" and are bolstering the UK's cyber defences to "unprecedented levels".

A cabinet spokesperson told The Huffington Post that the GCHQ is expecting cyber criminals to focus on fraudulent attacks on Olympic ticketing, accommodation and travel.

"The Cyber Security Operations Centre (CSOC) has dedicated staff for this risk, and we are focusing on enterprise, on ticketing, and bookings," said the spokesperson.

"We have established relationships with business and financial institutions, and we are working with them to target fraud during the Olympics," they said.

GCHQ currently works with businesses that could be under threat to during the Olympics and recommends that businesses use the information available through Get Safe Online.

They say that 80% of online fraud is preventable by doing some very basic things like updating virus protection.

Ricketts told The Times that the Beijing Olympics saw 12 million cyber crime attacks.

The Telegraph in Sydney reports that "Britain's biggest ticket fraudster" Terry Shepherd was jailed for eight years this July after setting up a global Olympic ticketing scam which made £4.5million before collapsing.

Last week, MI5 and MI6 asked would-be cyber spies to crack this code for a James Bond-style spy job.

The full UK Cyber Security Policy is available form the Cabinet Office.

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London will get a boost of cyber spies right in time for the Olympics. The digital spooks will be on the look out for fraud against ticket sellers, hotel booking systems, and flights during London 201...
London will get a boost of cyber spies right in time for the Olympics. The digital spooks will be on the look out for fraud against ticket sellers, hotel booking systems, and flights during London 201...
 
 
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23:47 on 05/12/2011
After working 3 previous Olympic Games, I am quite certain that very, very soon there will be no hotel rooms left to reserve. In addition, simple supply & demand forces will mean much higher than usual prices if you are lucky enough to find a room. That will essentially force visitors toward the rental of private homes, with prices approximating normal hotel rates.

Fraudsters are busy in those chat rooms and on free sites which offer no protection, too. They aren't successful very often, but a few do fall victim. The most common practice is to 'scrape' photos off existing property sites on the Web and post them in an advertisement as your own home, then take the rent from a trusting soul. In Vancouver, it was widely reported that an Olympic athlete's family got cheated out of over $5000.00 this way, but media attention resulted in several good folks offering their homes to the family free of charge.

Savvy visitors should use sites like www.rentatthegames.com, the original olympics accommodation website that has been in the business since the Beijing Games. They offer a great deal of variety, plus direct communication tools and fraud protection services.
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Ramkshrestha
Welcome to Nepal - the birthplace of Buddha
17:20 on 05/12/2011
That is very necessary