Axa Plans Cyber Risk Prevention Campaign Ahead of Paris Olympics

Axa SA is planning a campaign to help prevent cyberattacks targeting France in the run-up to the Paris Olympics next summer.

The insurer will share key measures with French corporate clients to improve the protection of their information systems, the head of Axa’s French unit, Guillaume Borie, said on Wednesday. The campaign will be for all of Axa’s corporate clients in the country, even those that haven’t subscribed to an insurance policy for cyber risks.

France is bracing for a surge in cyberattacks during the Olympics. Last month, the head of France’s national cybersecurity agency told Agence France-Presse the event itself could be a target, with attackers looking to disrupt for instance the opening ceremony or public transport. Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp., which provided cybersecurity services for the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo, reported 450 million attempted cyberattacks at the time.

“The government has explicitly said that it will be a time during which cyberattacks against France will be massive,” Borie said, speaking of the Paris Olympics. “We need to have ambitious prevention plans.”