WADA: Russian Spy Group Hacked US Olympians’ Medical Records

The World Anti-Doping Agency confirmed Sept. 13 a Russian hacking team accessed a database with U.S. Olympian athletes’ confidential medical information and publicly released information about Simone Biles, Serena and Venus Williams, and Elena Delle Donne.

The WADA statement blames Tsar Team, also known as APT28 or Fancy Bear, an alleged Russian cyber-espionage group also linked to the Democratic National Committee email breach.

So how did the group get in? Spear-phishing, the WADA statement said. The group accessed WADA’s Anti-Doping Administration and Management System database via an International Olympic Committee-created account for the Rio 2016 Games.

WADA has been breached before. In August, unauthorized users accessed Yuliya Stepanova’s ADAMs account. Stepanova played a key role in exposing the widespread doping among Russian athletes.