Manchester United Football Club Targeted by ‘Sophisticated’ Cyber Attack

The sports pages are not typically where cybersecurity headlines are to be found, despite the rising instance of such attacks. The fact that last week exactly that happened is testament to the growing threat every kind of organisation with digital properties faces, as Manchester United Football Club reported a “sophisticated” cyber attack on its systems.

The third most valuable football club in the world was breached by hackers in an incident described in a statement as a “sophisticated operation by organised cyber criminals.”

While forensic investigations are still in their preliminary stages, it is thought no serious damage was done as the breach was detected and impacted systems immediately shut down. The club is confident that no personal data of either employees or customers was accessed. Manchester United’s user-facing digital assets, such as club website, app and streaming media were unaffected.

Match-day systems were also able to function as usual over the weekend, meaning there was no disruption to the scheduled match against EPL rivals West Bromwich Albion.

A Manchester United spokesperson told The Guardian newspaper:

“These type of attacks are becoming more and more common and are something you have to rehearse for.”

It appears that this time, the club’s cyber security measures proved up to the task and the attack was thwarted. In the context of all of the high profile brands to have recently been breached by cyber attacks, often at huge cost, either financial, reputational or both, Manchester United’s management will be delighted.

While sports clubs may not seem like an obvious target for cyber criminals, Manchester United is also a huge business. The company is worth almost $4 billion and holds financial records of ticket buyers and presumably other parties it has business relationships with, including employees.

Attacks of the sophistication of the one on Manchester United are not random attempts by hackers hoping to get lucky. Months can be spent laying the groundwork, waiting for the opportunity to breach one system, often considered less security-sensitive, in order to gain insight into the digital network and find vulnerabilities.

The faster any breach is detected, the better the chance of it being stopped before it is able to do real damage.

David Castaneda of London-based cybersecurity start-up CybeX Security commented:

“Manchester United has become the unwanted latest addition to what is becoming a long list of high-profile attacks against brands effectively being held hostage by the cybercriminal groups”.

“The fact this time the attack failed is testament to the company’s management and IT team and shows the worth of investing in truly robust cybersecurity systems.”