LONDON (UK) – Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) alerted that soccer clubs in the Premier League have increasingly been targetted by hackers.
The NCSC highlighted a case, in a new report on cyber threat to sports organisations, where it saw the emails of a Premier League team’s managing director being hacked before transfer talks. This has resulted in the 1 million pounds ($1.27 million) fee almost reaching the hands of the hackers.
The report did not list the names of the affected clubs and individuals and regarding who could possibly be behind the attacks.
The agency’s report called for tighter cybersecurity measures in Britain’s sports sector.
It further said that at least 70% of Britain’s sports institutions are prone to a cyber incident every 12 months, which makes for more than double the average for UK businesses.
A financial damage with an average cost of 10,000 pounds per incident was caused in at least 30% of those incidents, with the biggest single loss so far going up to 4 million pounds.
Paul Chichester, director of operations at the NCSC said, “I would urge sporting bodies to use this time to look at where they can improve their cybersecurity.”
“While cyber security might not be an obvious consideration for the sports sector as it thinks about its return (from the coronavirus outbreak), our findings show the impact of cybercriminals cashing in on this industry is very real.”
Hugh Robertson, chair of the British Olympic Association, looked at the report as a “crucial first step” in aiding organisations to better understand such threats and in turn improve cybersecurity.
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field.