MILAN-CORTINA, Italy – As the competitions unfold across Northern Italy, the 2026 Winter Olympics are proving to be a battleground not just for athletes, but for cybersecurity professionals defending against a relentless barrage of digital attacks. Italian authorities have already successfully mitigated a series of Russian-linked cyberattacks targeting websites connected to the Games, hotels in Cortina d’Ampezzo and even national embassies.
The attacks, primarily Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, aim to disrupt access by flooding servers with traffic, causing operational havoc and potential financial losses. While DDoS attacks don’t infiltrate systems or steal data, they represent a significant threat to the smooth operation of the Games. A full-scale data breach, experts warn, could be far more calamitous.
This isn’t a new phenomenon. Previous Olympic Games, notably the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, have been targeted by cyberattacks, including disruptions to broadcasts and website access. The current situation is further complicated by geopolitical tensions, with a history of Russian-backed actors retaliating against Olympic bans – first in 2018 due to a state-sponsored doping program, and more recently in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
Despite the International Olympic Committee raising the possibility of lifting sporting sanctions on Russia, cybersecurity experts believe the risk of further attacks remains high. Justin Moore, a senior manager at Unit 42, a division of Palo Alto Networks, explained that Russia’s exclusion from medal competition alters the strategic context. “With no national team participating, traditional deterrents tied to reputational or competitive consequences are reduced,” Moore said. “Given the history of Russian-linked cyber activity targeting past Olympic Games, the risk of state-aligned cyber operations cannot be discounted, potentially drawing on previously observed disruptive or influence-based tactics.”
Italy is responding with a comprehensive, integrated cyber defense framework. A 24-hour cybersecurity command center has been established in Rome, coordinating with police headquarters across key venues like Milan, Bolzano, and Trento. The effort isn’t solely a national one; countries like France and the United States, hosts of previous and future Games, are providing assistance in identifying and preventing malicious activity.
The scale of the challenge is immense. Milan-Cortina 2026 is the most geographically dispersed Winter Olympics in history, spanning 22,000 square kilometers of Northern Italy. This vast network, connecting over 40 competition and non-competition venues, supports more than 3,000 athletes, 11,000 media and broadcast staff, and thousands of volunteers and operations personnel. It underpins critical infrastructure, including Wi-Fi connectivity, ticketing systems, broadcast connections, and scoring software – supporting over one million connections in total.
“The Games are built on unrepeatable athletic moments that occur live in the venue, and broadcast remotely to the world,” said Giuseppe Civale, director of ICT infrastructure and venue technologies for Milan-Cortina 2026. “Our network needs the highest grade of performance and stability – from the data centre down to each access point. We’re serving an unprecedented amount of high‑resolution 8K footage to more than 200 rights holders that will eventually broadcast the Games to the world. Trust has to be inherent along with scalability and security.”
Key technology partners, including lead integrator Deloitte and official network equipment hardware partner HPE, are playing a crucial role in both supporting and protecting the Games’ infrastructure. HPE’s network is designed with security embedded at its core, utilizing software-defined networking and artificial intelligence to proactively identify and block threats. This layered approach allows the Milan-Cortina 2026 team to respond rapidly and effectively without disrupting the overall network functionality.
Rami Rahim, general manager of HPE’s networking business, emphasized the importance of this proactive security posture. “For the event organisers, not having an embarrassing incident where an attacker succeeds is very important,” Rahim explained. “But just as important is not degrading the experience of the network because you have firewalls everywhere. To achieve that you have to build a network where security is built in, where the network itself acts as a sensor to identify threats, implement policies, to block and prevent.”
The ongoing cybersecurity efforts represent a critical, often unseen, component of the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. While the world focuses on athletic achievements, a dedicated team is working tirelessly to ensure the digital infrastructure remains secure, allowing the Games to proceed without disruption and delivering the spectacle to a global audience.
