According to the World Anti-Doping Agency the Russian hacking group, Fancy Bears, leaked another set of athletes’ information database.
This is the second leak reported by the WADA in two days. Tuesday they had to announce that the first database had been leaked to the public, and on Wednesday, they announced that yet again, another database was leaked to the public. The information of 25 athletes, from eight countries was leaked to the public. 10 from the United States, five from Germany, five from Britain, and one from the Czech Republic, Denmark, Poland, Romania, and Russia were all targets of the hackers.
Confidential medical data from gold medal-winning gymnast Simone Biles, seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams, as well as other United States Women athlete’s medical records were posted online. Some of the records indicate “Therapeutic Use Exemptions”, or TUEs), which allow athletes to use normally banned substances due to medical needs.
Wednesday the WADA revealed that it had been hacked yet again by the Russian hackers belonging to Fancy Bear, and that they had gained access to the Anti-Doping Administration and Management System, and that information regarding to TUEs, as well as more, had been stolen.
“WADA is very mindful that this criminal attack, which to date has recklessly exposed personal data of 29 athletes, will be very distressing for athletes that have been targeted and cause apprehension for all athletes that were involved in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games,” WADA’s Director General, Olivier Niggli said.
“To those athletes that have been impacted, we regret that criminals have attempted to smear your reputations in this way; and, assure you that we are receiving intelligence and advice from the highest level law enforcement and IT security agencies that we are putting into action,” he continued.
“We have no doubt that these ongoing attacks are being carried out in retaliation against the agency, and the global anti-doping system because of independent investigations that exposed state sponsored doping in Russia,” Niggli stated further.
Williams won the silver medal for her outstanding competition in the mixed double portion of the Rio Olympics a month ago. She released this statement regarding the hacks:
“I was granted TUEs because a serious medical condition has occurred. These exemptions were reviewed by an anonymous independent group of doctors, and approved for legitimate medical reasons.”
Another statement said that USA Gymnastics said Biles, who won four gold and one silver medal in Rio last month; was approved for an exemption and had not broken any rules.
A month ago hackers obtained the database password for Russian running Yuliya Stepanova, who is also a whistleblower, as well as a key witness for these WADA investigations. Along with her husband who is a former official with the Russian National Anti-Doping Agency, are currently living at an undisclosed location in the U.S.A.
The Committee for the International Olympics issued this statement:
“We strongly condemn such methods which clearly aim at tarnishing the reputation of clean athletes. The IOC can confirm however, that the athletes mentioned did not violate any anti-doping rules during the Olympic Games Rio 2016.”
Fancy Bears released a statement on their website in which the group claimed allegiance too Anonymous; another infamous group of hackers. They also said they hacked the WADA to show the world exactly how Olympic medals are won.
“We will start with the U.S. team which has disgraced its name by tainted victories. There will be more revelations about other teams are coming soon.”
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