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Hackers froze turnstiles at a football game and tried to steal a £1m club transfer fee in recent cyber attacks on UK sport, a new report has revealed.
Cyber criminals hacked the emails of a
Premier League
club's managing director during a transfer negotiation and would have been able to pocket the fee if it wasn't for a late intervention from the bank, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said.
The NCSC's first Cyber Threat to Sports Organisations report also revealed 70% of major UK sports organisations suffer a cyber attack every year, which is more than double the average for other businesses.
Another English football club was targeted by a ransomware attack that stopped its turnstiles and CCTV systems from working, which nearly resulted in the match being cancelled, the document said.
A member of staff at UK racecourse also lost £15,000 after attempting to buy a piece of grounds keeping equipment on eBay from a fraudster, according to the report. It did not reveal which clubs were affected.
The biggest single loss from a sport cyber attack was £4m - with an average per incident of £10,000, it added.
Image:Another attack on a club saw its turnstiles frozen on match day
The NCSC is urging sports organisations to bolster their online security to prevent them falling victim to more attacks as the sector recovers from the
coronavirus
pandemic.
Common tactics used by hackers include compromising emails, cyber-enabled fraud and ransomware shutting down digital systems.
Sir Hugh Robertson, chairman of the British Olympic Association (BOA) said: "Improving cyber security across the sports sector is critical.
"The BOA sees this report as a crucial first step, helping sports organisations to better understand the threat and highlighting practical steps that organisations should take to improve cyber security practices."
Oliver Dowden, Digital and Sport Secretary welcomed the first report and said he hopes it will protect clubs and their customers.