The San Francisco 49ers team fell victim to a ransomware attack affecting key corporate operations, the team announced Sunday.
Hackers using BlackByte ransomware tools listed the San Francisco 49ers on a dark web site identifying the team as a target for extortion attempts, The Record reported. The team confirmed to The Record on Sunday that it had been the victim of a ransomware attack.
“Upon learning of the incident, we immediately initiated an investigation and took steps to contain the incident,” the team told The Record. “While the investigation is ongoing, we believe the incident is limited to our corporate IT network; to date, we have no indication that this incident involves systems outside of our corporate network, such as those connected to Levi’s Stadium operations or ticket holders.” (RELATED: Colonial Pipeline Hackers Stole Personal Data From Nearly 6,000 People)
Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterbacks Trey Lance (5) and Jimmy Garoppolo (10) throw the football during Organized Team Activities at San Francisco 49ers Training Facility. (Mandatory Credit: Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports via Reuters)
The team told The Record that it alerted law enforcement and was working quickly to restore its systems. The San Francisco 49ers did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
The FBI and U.S. Secret Service issued a joint cybersecurity advisory on Friday, two days before the attack on the 49ers was revealed, warning of the effects of BlackByte ransomware.
“BlackByte ransomware had compromised multiple US and foreign businesses, including entities in at least three US critical infrastructure sectors (government facilities, financial, and food & agriculture),” the agencies said.”BlackByte is a Ransomware as a Service (RaaS) group that encrypts files on compromised Windows host systems, including physical and virtual servers.”
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