They’re the biggest showcase in the world for athletes, but the modern Olympic Games are also a big opportunity for hackers.
Bay Area security companies said they’re actively monitoring traffic on phones and computers, looking for scams.
"These things are run, like our everyday lives, on technology,” said Andrew Rubin of Illumio.
Technology that makes the backbone of the games -- software, hardware, the electric grid -- vulnerable to hackers.
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Silicon Valley cyber security companies are already tracking them.
"And you start to think about not so much the Olympics as an event, but all the technology that's enabling it, and all of these represent attack surface," Rubin said.
But the risk is not just to the games themselves, but to us, as streamers of the action.
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The Tokyo games will be all over our phones and computer screens, giving bad actors another target: our passwords.
"They're trying to install malicious software on your computer,” said Deepeen Desai, vice president of security research at Zscaler. “That can then result in anything from ransomware to information stealing to coin miners."
Hackers are trying to use your machines to mine cryptocurrency, so protect yourself.
The best advice from security experts is to be careful. When it comes to streaming sites, go with what you know. Don't download apps or click on links promising "faster" speeds or gifts. They're likely scam sites set up to try and snag your passwords.
