Officials suspect the attack was in retaliation to the Olympics’ anti-doping measures, which have prohibited Russian athletes for competing for their country.

By Emma Stefansky @ The Hive @ VanityFair.com, Feb. 25

On February 9, a cyberattack against the Winter Olympics’ computer servers threw the Opening Ceremony into minor chaos, with disruptions to the Internet and broadcast systems making it impossible for some computers to print attendees’ tickets—which resulted in many empty seats across the stadium. On Saturday evening, The Washington Post reported that Russian hackers were the culprit, having used North Korean IP addresses to cover their tracks in what’s called a “false flag” operation.

According to two U.S. officials who spoke to the Post, hackers from the G.R.U.— the Russian military’s Main Intelligence Directorate—accessed South Korean routers in January, sending out malware on the first day of the Olympics. This allowed them to access as many as 300 Olympics-related computers. “Fancy Bear,” a hacking group connected to the G.R.U. [....]