The Olympics were hit by a cyberattack during the opening ceremony

The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony
(Image credit: Christof Stache/Getty Images)

Organizers of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, confirmed Sunday they were subject to a cyberattack during Friday's opening ceremony. The wifi and television in the Games facilities stopped working for about 12 hours, as did the official website. All were restored to normal by Saturday morning local time.

"We are not going to comment on the issue. It is one we are dealing with. We are making sure our systems are secure, and they are secure," said International Olympic Committee (IOC) representative Mark Adams, who indicated he did not know the source of the attack and would not share it if he did, because "best international practice says that you don't talk about an attack."

The Guardian reports Russia is rumored to be responsible. The official Russian team is banned from the Olympics this year after a major doping investigation, though some Russian athletes have been permitted to compete under a neutral flag.

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.