Multiple Russian state-sponsored threat actors are actively running disinformation campaigns about the Summer Olympics being held in Paris, France this summer. The goal of the campaigns, apparently, is to scare people into avoiding the event altogether.
The Microsoft Threat Analysis Center (MTAC) recently published a new report describing at least two separate groups of threat actors, Storm-1679 and Storm-1099, working at the same time and towards the same goal.
Readers may remember the latter from previous reports, when Storm-1099 was blamed for a disinformation campaign that Ukraine was selling donated weapons to Hamas to commit atrocities in Israel.
“The Olympic Games have fallen”
For these campaigns, the groups are doing a number of things, including spoofing popular media outlets in France and other parts of Europe, as well as impersonating actors and celebrities.
In fact, Microsoft says misinformation masters created a fake Netflix documentary called “Olympics Has Fallen,” sporting the streaming service's logo and narrated by an AI-generated Tom Cruise voice.
“Further analysis confirmed that the fake documentary used AI-generated audio resembling Cruise's voice to imply his involvement, spoofed Netflix's iconic intro scene and corporate branding, and promoted fake five-star reviews. from renowned media outlets such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the BBC, all amidst slick computer-generated special effects,” the report states.
Russian state-sponsored hackers have a history of meddling in both domestic and global events, with the goal of disrupting and spreading misinformation. The US presidential election, the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, French President Macron's presidential campaign, are just some of the events that Microsoft claims Russian hackers interfered with.
