Houston Astros Info Breached
Trade Discussions Leaked to Online Data Sharing SiteIt wasn't credit card information that hackers were after this time. The Houston Astros Major League Baseball club has confirmed that information related to prospective player trades was illegally obtained from the team's servers in May.
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Sports news website Deadspin posted the leak of 10 months' worth of the Astros' internal trade conversations. The compromised information includes the club's front office communications regarding trade overtures to and from other teams, as well as negotiations.
"It is unfortunate and extremely disappointing that an outside source has illegally obtained confidential information," the club said in a statement. "While it does appear that some of the content released was based on trade conversations, a portion of the material was embellished or completely fabricated."
After learning of the breach that impacted the team's servers and various applications, the Astros notified MLB security, which then called in the FBI. "Since that time, we have been working closely with MLB security and the FBI to determine the party, or parties, responsible," the team says. "This information was illegally obtained and published, and we intend to prosecute those involved to the fullest extent."
General Manager Jeff Luhnow told MLB.com that the stolen information was released through a website in which users can anonymously share hacked information. It was then picked up by Deadspin, he says.
"It's not something that should be happening," Luhnow said. "We're doing everything we can to upgrade our security to make sure it doesn't happen again. It's unfortunate [the information's] out there and it's unfortunate that other teams are affected and individual players. It reflects the age we live in. People are trying to steal information, get information, whether it's legally or illegally."