MICHAEL KELLEY
Sochi tourists, last night’s NBC report is your final warning.
If you have sensitive data that you don’t want stolen, then don’t bring it to Sochi. And if it’s too late for that, then don’t talk about sensitive topics while enjoying the Olympics.
Reporter Richard Engel brought two brand new computers and a new smartphone to Sochi. He had an American security expert upload a phony identity for him so that they contained hackable data.
Then they went to a coffee shop and used the smartphone to browse about Sochi.
“Almost immediately we were hacked,” Engel reports. “Malicious software hijacked our phone before we even finished our coffee, stealing my information and giving hackers the option to tap or record my phone calls.”
Later, Engel found that the two new computers had been hacked, and the stream of information from one of the computers was going to servers within Russia.
A senior U.S. intelligence official told ABC News that “the influx of tens of thousands of American spectators and dignitaries will be ‘an intelligence bonanza’ for both Russian spies and organized crime groups.”
http://www.nbcnews.com/