Russian hacking group Fancy Bear – responsible for hacking the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) – has gained unauthorized access to the IAAF servers.
The governing body of track and field believes the hack accessed and “compromised” information pertaining applications on athletes’ Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE).
TUE allows the authorized use of medication that falls under the Prohibited List for athletes with illnesses or conditions who require the needed treatment.
Athletes requiring WADA’s Prohibited List of medications were contacted on Monday but the IAAF said it was in contact with the TUE applicants since 2012.
IAAF president Sebastian Coe in an apology issued said, “Our first priority is to the athletes who have provided the IAAF with information that they believed would be secure and confidential.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”They have our sincerest apologies and our total commitment to continue to do everything in our power to remedy the situation and work with the world’s best organizations to create as safe an environment as we can.”[/perfectpullquote]
IAAF was in February alerted of a possible unauthorized remote access to its network by British security company, Context Information Security but it was unaware of any information stolen from its servers however, there was a strong indication of an attack and signs that the system was breached with means to obtain IAAF data.
The British security company was initially contacted by the governing body in January to carry out a proactive investigation which according to the company, “led to the discovery of a sophisticated intrusion”.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”We have received the full support of the IAAF during the subsequent Cyber Incident Response engagement and, throughout the investigation, the IAAF have understood the importance and impact of the attack and have provided us comprehensive assistance.[/perfectpullquote]
“This has been critical in allowing us to both quickly identify the nature of the intrusion and to provide a full and diligent resolution,” it said in a statement.
This would not be the first time the cyber espionage group believed to be from Russia has gained illegal access.
Last year, the infamous Fancy Bears group leaked medical records of several high-profile competitors with the USA and British athletes being the largest targets, even though there was no suggestion of any wrongdoing by any of the athletes after it accessed information from a computer hack on WADA.
Featured photo: File
