The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has revealed that it was the victim of a cyberattack, which it has
attributed to the Russian cyberespionage group, Tsar Team (APT28).
According to the agency, the group, which also goes
by the moniker Fancy Bear, was able to gain access to its Anti-Doping
Administration and Management System (ADAMS) database.
The group was able to locate confidential documents
relating to several athletes, including the gymnast Simone Biles, and the
tennis players Venus and Serena Williams. This information has subsequently
been leaked.
Although this has not been officially confirmed by
WADA, the agency did admit some sensitive data had been released “into the
public domain”.
It added that the group behind the WADA cyberattack
has warned that this is just the start – more confidential documents will
reportedly be leaked.
“WADA deeply regrets this situation and is very
conscious of the threat that it represents to athletes whose confidential
information has been divulged through this criminal act,” commented Olivier
Niggli, director general of the agency.
“WADA condemns these ongoing cyberattacks that are
being carried out in an attempt to undermine WADA and the global anti-doping
system.”
News of this comes on the back of WADA and the
Court of Arbitration for Sport revealing last month that they had been targeted
by cybercriminals.
Speaking to the Associated Press, Maggie Durand,
communications coordinator at WADA, said that phishing emails had been sent to
numerous users of its database.
The cybercriminals had tried to pass off the emails
as official communications, in which they requested login details to be shared.