French Football Federation Hit by Major Data Breach, Member Information Exposed

The French Football Federation reported a major breach after threat actors accessed its administrative software, compromising members’ sensitive data.

 

The French Football Federation (FFF) serves as the governing authority for association football in France, overseeing the sport at every level, from professional leagues to grassroots participation.

 

In a security incident notice posted on its website, the FFF stated that it recently detected a breach in its administrative management software, where threat actors used a compromised account to gain access and exposed members’ personal data.

 

“Upon detection of this unauthorised access through the use of a compromised account, the FFF services took the necessary steps to secure the software and data, including immediately disabling the account in question and resetting all user account passwords,” the FFF said.

 

However, the organisation confirmed that before it was able to terminate the unauthorised access, the threat actors had already stolen certain personal data.The compromised data included names, gender, dates, places of birth, nationality, postal addresses, email addresses, telephone numbers and licensee numbers.

 

The federation has filed a complaint and informed the appropriate authorities, including ANSSI and CNIL, about the incident. It added that individuals whose email addresses were contained in the compromised database will be notified directly.

 

“The FFF is committed to protecting all the data entrusted to it and is constantly strengthening and adapting its security measures, in order to face, like many actors, the multiplicity and new forms of cyberattacks.

 

“We recommend that you be very vigilant about future suspicious or unusual communications that you may receive (SMS, call, email, etc.) apparently coming from the FFF, your Club or another sender (for example, inviting you to open an attachment or to communicate your accounts and passwords or bank details),” the FFF added.