Technology News Article Reuters.comBy Sophie Hardach and Antonella Ciancio
Mon Jan 30, 2006. MILAN (Reuters) - Olympic organizers have tightened the screws on data processing security to prevent identity fraud and tampering with scores and times, a project director at Atos Origin, which manages the IT system for the Games, told Reuters.
Patrick Adiba, head of the Olympic Games project at Atos, said there had been some five million security alerts on the secure network for the Summer Games in Athens.
Only about 20 of these were critical -- people trying to access the network without authorization.
"The main innovation is that we have managed to have a much more effective filter system than in Athens," he said.
"We are also implementing a new system of identity management, so when people want to log in you can check if they have the right to do so."
Italy is protecting the Games with an army of snipers, policemen and firemen, and has been praised for its security efforts in the face of militant Islamist threats and local political protest groups.
It also receives information from intelligence agencies around the world about Olympic risks.
As with intelligence reports, the challenge is to find the real threats in a fog of data.
Adiba said many information technology alerts were prompted by people at the Olympic venues trying to connect their own computers to the secure network, often just to surf the Internet.
In each case, Atos responds by immediately disconnecting the computer from the network and then sending out security staff to physically check what happened.
Atos also provides data to police and immigration authorities. For example, accreditation to the Games has the same value as a visa, since citizens from countries requiring a visa for travel to Italy are granted it as part of the accreditation process.
"A lot of the security is related to processes. We try to design a system that's secure, to prevent people from processing, entering or modifying data," Adiba added.
Sensitive data includes itineraries for visiting heads of state, athletes' medical appointments and case histories -- and, of course, competition results.
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