On July 15, 2018, the 21st FIFA World Cup came to the end in Russia. This is a digest of the most notable confidential data leaks that happened during this premier football tournament, prepared by InfoWatch Analytical Center.
Even though hackers did their best to feed off this key sports event of the summer, their attempts had not been very successful. There were incidents with fake websites and fraud apps mimicking the World Cup brand, as InfoWatch experts warned before. For example, dozens of Israeli military men suffered from a championship statistics app downloadable from Google Play that turned out to be spyware developed to record conversations and steal content from the infected devices. Israel blamed Hamas for this attack.
As part of another incident, cybercriminals attacked the Ammyy Admin website, a free remote administration tool widely used in Russia, using the phrase “fifa2018start” in their command and control server URL to cover their actions. According to ESET’s analysts, on June 13 and 14, the attackers made the website serve a multipurpose trojan in addition to its legitimate content, aiming to steal passwords for cryptocurrency wallets and accounts of the victims.
In addition, the 2018 FIFA World Cup saw leaks of insider information about several teams. Thus, the English media published the snaps of notes revealing a line-up against Panama just a day before the game on June 24. The media claimed that Steve Holland, assistant to team manager Gareth Southgate, was to blame for the leak. “My only observation is that it’s definitely an advantage for us or the opposition if you know the tactics of the other team. I don’t expect the media to be supporters of us in terms of the way they work. They’re here to work,” Southgate said. Lucky for the team, the leak did not have much effect, and England defeated Panama 6-1.
As part of another similar incident, Argentina's head coach Jorge Sampaoli accidentally leaked team tactics for Nigeria clash by leaving his notes wide open and easy for photographers to snap – giving some indications of his tactical thoughts ahead of the do or die game in St. Petersburg. Again, the incident did not help the opposing team, as Argentina defeated Nigeria 2-1 and progressed from the group.
While Mohamed Salah, a forward for English club Liverpool and the Egypt national team, was in Russia for the tournament, his home address was leaked on Facebook, and crowds gathered outside his home in Egypt. The star player decided to meet and greet his adoring fans, even signing autographs for them.
