The French Football Federation (FFF) revealed on Friday that it suffered a data breach after attackers accessed administrative management software used by football clubs.
The hackers gained entry by using a compromised account. Once the unauthorized access was discovered, the FFF’s security team quickly disabled the affected account and reset every user’s password in the system to prevent further misuse.
Before they were removed from the network, the attackers managed to steal personal and contact information belonging to members of French football clubs. According to the FFF, the stolen data includes names, gender, birth details, nationality, postal addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, and license numbers.
Following European data protection laws, the organization has filed a criminal complaint and alerted both France’s National Cybersecurity Agency (ANSSI) and the National Commission on Informatics and Liberty (CNIL). The FFF will also notify all individuals whose email addresses were part of the compromised database.
The federation urged members to stay cautious of any unexpected messages claiming to come from the FFF, football clubs, or other sources. They warned club members not to open suspicious attachments or share sensitive information such as passwords, account details, or banking information.
The FFF said it continues to strengthen its security measures to deal with the rising number of cyberattacks. A spokesperson for the federation was not available for comment when contacted by BleepingComputer.
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