Argentina FA likely targeted by cyber attack over World Cup emails
Argentina's football association has indicated it may have been the target of a cyber attack after emails from its official accounts reportedly criticised refereeing in the national team's 3-2 win against Egypt at the World Cup.
Possible Cyber Attack
Argentina's Football Association (AFA) has suggested it may have been the victim of a cyber attack after emails from its official accounts reportedly criticised the officiating in the national team's World Cup match against Egypt. The defending champions had been trailing 2-0 before staging a remarkable comeback to win 3-2 and reach the quarter-finals.
Following the defeat, the Egyptian Football Association asked FIFA to ban French referee Francois Letexier and his crew, alleging bias in favour of Argentina.
Suspicious Emails
Argentine news outlet La Calle reported that emails sent from the AFA account to journalists after the match stated "Argentina did not win" and described the result as due to "corrupt refereeing decisions". The publication cited AFA sources suggesting that hackers of Egyptian origin were behind the emails, which also praised Egypt's performance.
AFA Official Response
In a statement, the AFA said: "We want to inform you that we have detected the possible sending of emails from one of our institutional accounts that were not generated or authorised by our team." It urged the public to "dismiss any message that you have recently received from our account and that is unusual, especially if it contains links, attachments or requests personal information".
"There is a possibility that our account has been subject to unauthorised access, so we are working to clarify what happened and adopt the necessary security measures," the AFA added.
