With the 2006 Winter Olympics well underway, IT security experts have been working non-stop to lessen the risk of having hackers take over Olympic computer systems.

An array of antivirus software, firewalls, intrusion detection systems and port-security tools have been in place since the start of the games, protecting thousands of workstations.

One especially important security system automatically monitors the Olympic infrastructure in real-time. “The main innovation is that we have managed to have a much more effective filter system than in Athens,” said Patrick Adiba of Atos Origin, the French services company responsible for IT at the Olympic Games.

During the 2004 Olympic Summer Games in Athens Atos received five million security alerts through its network. Of those five million, about 20 were critical with people trying to use the system without proper authorization.

IT security experts worry most about hackers accessing sensitive data including itineraries for visiting heads of state, athlete medical appointments and competition results.

“A lot of security is related to process,” said Adiba. “We try to design a system that’s secure, to prevent people from processing, entering or modifying data.”

All up the 2006 Olympics invested US$400 million in information technology. Before the games even started 100,000 hours were spent testing system security, including 500 “what if” scenarios ranging from traffic jams to complete computer shut-downs.

To ease the worry, Atos even created two data centres and two networks. So far so good.