Manchester United’s computer system was attacked on the 21st of November. The club’s IT defense system had brought the issue under control immediately.
But the cyber attack may affect Manchester United’s scouting operation in January. Manchester United feared confidential material regarding player targets and on-going scouting missions may have been compromised in the sophisticated and malicious attack which crippled their IT system over a week ago.
Forensic cyber experts are still investigating to discover what the hackers may have harvested during their operation. The whole system is already under forensic investigation.
Jon Nicholls, lead of network security experts said, “It isn’t clear what type of attack hit the club, but as their statement mentioned that it ‘shut down affected systems to contain the damage and protect data.”
“And possibly a double extortion attack where the attackers both steal data with the threat of leaking it, as well as encrypting it to disrupt operations.”
“These are fast-growing trends in 2020, and organizations such as football clubs are a prime target as their systems hold the details of hundreds of thousands of people including fans, employees, players as well as sensitive business and payment data.”- he added.
With just four months away from opening the winter transfer window it is important for Manchester United to find out what Cyber-criminals have actually done in the system. As per reports, the club’s emailing system is still disabled after the breach. It will also make an impact on the transfer strategies of Manchester United.