A pro-Russian propaganda campaign is using artificial intelligence as part of a larger operation to suggest violence is likely at the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris, according to research published on Sunday by Microsoft.
One disinformation group used fake AI-generated audio to make it appear as if actor Tom Cruise was narrating a story. The Olympics have declinedModeled after the 2013 action movie Olympus has fallenThe researchers discovered that the video introduced itself as a Netflix documentary and even used Netflix's signature intro, which the company uses for all of its streaming videos.
The video also included fake testimonials from well-known media outlets, including the New York Times and the BBC.
In fact, Microsoft says the influence campaign is the work of a pro-Russian propaganda group it calls Storm 1679. The video is part of a growing number of suspected Russian agents working to tarnish the image of the Olympics and its host country, France, in the wake of the International Olympic Committee's ban on Russian athletes competing under the French flag.
In addition to spreading disinformation, he said, hackers probably began probing IT systems related to the Olympics about a year ago for weaknesses, and then began stepping up their actual attacks and trying to disrupt them four months before the games.
The report said the goal of the Russian-backed groups appears to be to prevent people from attending the Olympics, and Microsoft researchers said they expect the groups to intensify their activities ahead of the opening in July, adding new languages and using artificial intelligence to expand their reach.
“We see this as the biggest security threat to the Olympics,” said Dale Buckner, a 24-year veteran of the U.S. Army and CEO of Global Guardian Inc. The potential impact of disinformation or hacking at the Olympics could lead to disruption or upset of the event, said Buckner, who provides security for executives of Fortune 1000 companies and plans to do so in Paris.
“AI will lead to a level of disinformation never seen before.”
The IOC and Paris 2024 organizers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Kremlin representatives also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The researchers also found that pro-Russian groups had posted videos impersonating French media outlet France24 falsely claiming that 24% of Olympic ticket buyers had asked for refunds due to fears of terrorism in Paris, a city hit by a string of terrorist attacks in recent years, including a 2023 murder and an Islamic State attack in 2015 that left 130 people dead and hundreds injured.
International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said in May that wars in Ukraine and the Middle East were raising security concerns, adding that the IOC had “full confidence” in France's ability to host the Olympics safely. Authorities are implementing special anti-terrorism measures, stepping up background checks and reducing the number of spectators allowed along the Seine to watch the opening ceremony.
The spread of disinformation comes amid growing scrutiny of Russian propaganda in Europe, with European Union officials concerned by the way propaganda groups are using the messaging app Telegram to spread their messages.
Such posts typically don't garner much attention on social media, and it remains unclear to what extent these disinformation operations affect public perception. Instead, national security officials and internet researchers say the propaganda efforts are indicators of a country's geopolitical interests.
Fake local news outlets are now a prime target for digital operatives. A disinformation campaign known as Doppelganger recently posed as a German media outlet to stoke anti-immigrant sentiment in the country and attempted to undermine support for Ukraine in English-language posts, according to cyber firm Recorded Future. Microsoft's research also found that Doppelganger posed as a media outlet called Reliable News Network to warn of possible violence at the Olympics.
Russia-based hackers are allegedly behind the attack on the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, as well as the 2016 hack of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which leaked the medical information of several athletes.
Correction, June 5, 2024: An earlier version of this article misspelled Dale Buckner..
