Cyber attackers hit sports sector

In the last 12 months 70% of sports sector institutions have suffered from a cyber incident. These have included blocked turnstiles, fraudulent equipment sales and hacked transfer details.

Due to the recent cyber attacks sports institutions have been urged to tighten cyber security measures. One of the incidents involved accessing the emails of a Premier League football club's managing director which resulted in a £1m fee almost falling into the hands of cyber criminals.

Digital and sports secretary, Oliver Dowden, said: "Cyber security should be everyone’s game, but elite sport is clearly an attractive target for cyber criminals.

"Sports bodies should listen carefully to this warning by the NCSC and take steps to improve their cyber security before it is too late. Simple steps taken today can save millions of pounds of losses tomorrow”.