The Paris Olympics are being targeted by a Russian-linked disinformation campaign, according to the New York Times.
Since last summer, efforts have been under way by a hacker group named Storm-1679, the paper reports.
The campaign “began in earnest” when a documentary was released with a doctored International Olympic Committee (IOC) logo, along with an AI-powered impersonation of Tom Cruise’s voice.
The hackers “are trying to cultivate an anticipation of violence”, said Clint Watts, the head of Microsoft’s Digital Threat Analysis Centre.
“They want people to be fearful of going to the Olympics.”
Storm-1679 makes around three to eight disinformation videos a week, Mr Watts told the newspaper, many of which appear as if they come from media outlets such as the BBC or Al Jazeera.
Both Russia and Belarus have been banned from competing in the Olympics over the war in Ukraine, but some athletes from those countries will be allowed to compete as “neutral athletes”, the IOC announced in March.
The Paris games will take place between 26 July and 11 August.
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