The 2012 Summer Olympic Games begin in London on July 27. NBC is the US television network assigned to cover the games, not just via their many broadcast and cable networks but also online. Since the Olympics are such a high profile event, it makes sense that some online hackers could take the opportunity to cause some havoc during the games.
The Wall Street Journal reports that NBC, working with Google, has been conducting what the article calls "war games" to prepare for possible cyber attacks. The drills have been held over the past nine months with hundreds of possible attack scenarios simulated.
These drills mean a lot to both NBC and Google. The TV network is working with Google's YouTube division to stream 3,500 hours of live events during the London Olympic Games. With all of that coverage, some analysts believe that hackers will seek to disrupt those live streams.
The "war games" that both companies are conducting ahead of time include a scenario that involves a broadcast encoder, which transfers the video from the TV broadcast to a digital streaming format, breaking down. The article also claims that NBC and Google are preparing for possible denial of service attacks on their systems.
Source: Wall Street Journal
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