- Title: WADA says Fancy Bears hack was "limited" and that servers now more secure
- Date: 28th September 2016
- Summary: SEVRES, FRANCE (SEPTEMBER 28, 2016) (REUTERS) NEWS CONFERENCE STARTING (SOUNDBITE) (English) WORLD ANTI-DOPING AGENCY (WADA) SENIOR DIRECTOR OF SCIENCE, DR OLIVIER RABIN, SAYING: "It is not the WADA ADAMS system that has been hacked itself. It is the information that was made available by WADA to IOC (International Olympic Committee) for the period of the Olympic Games. So it was limited, even if that represents quite a substantial number of athletes, it was limited to those athletes being present at the Rio Olympic games. For what we know up to now. Of course, over the past recent weeks we had experts in IT systems and hacking, that joined forces with WADA, to ensure that no intrusion would be possible into our main system. From what I understand I do believe that all precautions have been taken. Having said that, in the principle of having medical data being hacked and being made public, I mean WADA has been very clear that this is absolutely unacceptable from our end. This is certainly not a service to the athletes, either at a personal level or at a collective level. We believe that these kind of activities are only trying to undermine the anti-doping system as a whole and more specifically WADA. But we believe, in the end, when you look at the information that has been released, it is very minor, which is good for the individual (athletes). It is sad for the individuals. We contacted with some of them individually to not only explain the situation but also apologise to the extent that we can apologise for something we are not responsible about." 3, NEWS CONFERENCE UNDERWAY (SOUNDBITE) (English) WORLD ANTI-DOPING AGENCY (WADA) SENIOR DIRECTOR OF SCIENCE, DR OLIVIER RABIN, SAYING: "Would you like to have your medical condition exposed publically? I don't think so. I think this is a right to an individual to have his medical situation being kept private or within people who have the competence to review. To be quite frank, what we have seen published by Fancy Bears with glucocorticoids, Beta-2 agonists, are very, very common medical conditions that can be solely treated with this substances. So, I think beyond revealing this information, which from all perspectives is totally unacceptable, certainly the information is of very limited value we think." NEWS CONFERENCE UNDERWAY (SOUNDBITE) (English) WORLD ANTI-DOPING AGENCY (WADA) SENIOR DIRECTOR OF SCIENCE, DR OLIVIER RABIN, SAYING: "Well, I think it has been nicely said by our president in March this year that WADA is largely underfunded. You may have read in the press this week, the vice-president of the IOC, who is also a future chair of the Medical Commission and Scientific Health committee saying that WADA needs more funding. I think everybody agrees upon this. It is functioning with a budget of about USD27million for all the tasks that we have to achieve. It is a small amount. We believe we can do more, if we are given more." NEWS CONFERENCE UNDERWAY
- Embargoed: 13th October 2016 12:18
- Keywords: WADA Sevres fancy bears doping hacking
- Location: SEVRES, FRANCE
- City: SEVRES, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Sport
- Reuters ID: LVA00151HC0UF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has admitted they had to apologise to several athletes following the recent leaking of their confidential medical documents by a Russian cyber espionage group but added that the information obtained in the hack was "limited."
Speaking at symposium in France on Wednesday (September 28), WADA's senior director of science, Doctor Olivier Rabin, said the hack was limited to data made available by WADA to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) ahead of this summer's Rio Olympics and that the agency's servers had been reinforced to prevent a repeat.
"It is not the WADA ADAMS system that has been hacked itself. It is the information that was made available by WADA to IOC (International Olympic Committee) for the period of the Olympic Games. So it was limited, even if that represents quite a substantial number of athletes, it was limited to those athletes being present at the Rio Olympic games," said Rabin.
"Of course, over the past recent weeks we had experts in IT systems and hacking, that joined forces with WADA, to ensure that no intrusion would be possible into our main system. From what I understand I do believe that all precautions have been taken."
"We believe, in the end, when you look at the information that has been released, it is very minor, which is good for the individual (athletes). It is sad for the individuals. We contacted with some of them individually to not only explain the situation but also apologize to the extent that we can apologize for something we are not responsible about," added Rabin, who did not specify which of the athletes had been contacted individually.
Some of the most high-profile athletes at the Rio 2016 games, including gold medallists Rafael Nadal, Mo Farah and Bradley Wiggins, were among those targeted in the hack.
The data related to Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs), which allow athletes to take banned substances for verified medical needs and are signed off by sports federations. There is no suggestion any of those named have broken any rules.
WADA has previously said that the hackers, named as APT28 and Fancy Bears, gained access to its anti-doping administration and management system (ADAMS) via an IOC-created account for the Rio Games.
The agency has also said that it believes the attacks are being carried out as retaliation for investigations that exposed state-sponsored doping in Russia.
WADA itself is under increasing pressure, following these hacks and the seemingly endless chain of doping scandals that have plagued world sport in recent years. However, Rabin defended the agency and said it could do more with increased funding.
"It is functioning with a budget of about US$27million for all the tasks that we have to achieve. It is a small amount. We believe we can do more, if we are given more," stressed Rabin. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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