The Paris 2024 Summer Olympics, themed “Games Wide Open” (“Ouvrons grand les Jeux”), commenced on 26 July 2024 and will run until 11 August. Hosting 10,714 athletes from 204 nations, including individual and refugee teams, the event features 329 competitions across 32 sports.
The opening ceremony, held outside a stadium for the first time, significantly impacted internet traffic in France, causing noticeable dips during key moments such as performances by Celine Dion and Lady Gaga and the lighting of the Olympic cauldron.
Cloudflare’s extensive global network provided valuable insights into these internet disruptions. During the opening ceremony, internet traffic in France decreased by up to 20 per cent, with the mobile share of traffic peaking at 61 per cent near the end of the event. These trends were not limited to France; significant drops in internet traffic were also observed in countries such as the United States, Great Britain, and Japan during the ceremony.
Traffic trends in France showed a consistent pattern of decline during the opening ceremony, with losses between 15 per cent and 20 per cent. However, moments with smaller drops also occurred, such as a four per cent decrease at 19:30 UTC during the middle of the boat parade of athletes. Following the ceremony, traffic surged by eight per cent compared to the previous week.
Security Implications During the Olympics
The Olympics brought a surge in security threats, including phishing and spam emails. From January 2024 through late July, Cloudflare’s Cloud Email Security service processed over a million emails containing “Olympics” or “Paris 2024” in the subject line, with a 304% increase during the first few days of the event. Although malicious emails remained a small percentage (0.1%) of the total, the volume of such threats was significant, highlighting the need for heightened cybersecurity measures during major global events.
Another major concern was DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks, which were monitored closely. While no major coordinated DDoS attacks targeted the Olympics, a French government website experienced a significant attack on 29 July, peaking at 207,000 requests per second. Additionally, a national transportation website faced a minor DDoS attack just before the Olympics began.
The opening ceremony day also saw a spike in DNS traffic to public transportation websites due to railway arson attacks in France, affecting 800,000 passengers. At 10:00 UTC, there was a significant surge in DNS traffic to public transportation websites, spiking by 2000% compared to the previous week as users accessed websites to check updates. This incident underscores the interconnected nature of physical and cyber threats, especially during high-profile events like the Olympics.
Impact on Global Internet Traffic
Globally, the opening ceremony also led to noticeable internet traffic variations, though less pronounced than in France. Key moments during the ceremony saw drops in traffic in several countries:
- Traffic dropped by four per cent in the United States at 20:15 UTC.
- In Great Britain, traffic fell by eight per cent at 20:15 UTC.
- In Germany, traffic decreased by four per cent at 20:15 UTC.
- In Japan, traffic dropped by 12 per cent at 21:15 UTC.
- In Italy, traffic fell by 11 per cent at 18:15 UTC.
These trends illustrate the widespread global interest in the Olympics and the impact of significant events on internet usage patterns.
Olympics-Related Email Traffic
From January 2024 through late July, Cloudflare processed over a million emails containing “Olympics” or “Paris 2024” in the subject line. During the week of 22-28 July, coinciding with the first few days of the Olympics, there was a 304 per cent increase in such emails compared to the previous week and a staggering 3111 per cent increase compared to the busiest week in January. Despite the surge, spam accounted for only 1.5 per cent of all Olympic-related emails, while malicious emails comprised 0.1 per cent.
The Paris 2024 Olympics have clearly impacted internet traffic and cybersecurity. Significant traffic drops during the opening ceremony and specific events highlight the interplay between physical and online interactions. The surge in Olympics-related emails and the observed DDoS attacks underscore the importance of robust cybersecurity measures during major global events.
