UK sport is at a critical juncture in its relationship with technology.

Increasing digitisation, from e-commerce platforms and membership databases to stadium Wi-Fi and social media, has made clubs and associations of all sizes more efficient, but also more exposed. According to NCSC research, 70% of UK sports organisations report at least one cyber incident each year - a rate far higher than most other industries.

For attackers, sport represents the perfect storm: immense volumes of personal and financial data, high-profile brands, emotionally invested fans, and the pressure of time-critical events.

While football often dominates the headlines due to its global scale and commercial weight, rugby, cricket, and athletics face parallel and equally damaging threats. Each sport relies on interconnected digital ecosystems spanning ticketing providers, payment processors, and cloud-hosted performance systems. The diversity of these attack surfaces means that cyber criminals have multiple opportunities to exploit weaknesses - whether through ransomware, supply chain compromise, or fan-targeted fraud.

2024-2025 has already delivered a string of incidents across UK sport that illustrate just how vulnerable this sector is. From ransomware leaks of contracts and passports to card-skimming on online shops and bot-driven ticket fraud, the threat landscape has widened, and the stakes have never been higher.

Real-World Case Studies Across UK Sports

Football - Defences Caught Offside:

Football remains the primary target for cyber criminals due to its vast financial flows, international reach, and massive fanbase. In the past 18 months, the sport has faced multiple disruptive and financially motivated attacks.

Bologna FC Ransomware & Data Leak - Italy, Nov–Dec 2024:
Although outside the UK, this case reverberated across European football. RansomHub exfiltrated sensitive data including contracts, passports, and commercial strategies before leaking them online. The incident served as a warning about how deeply clubs’ operational secrets can be exposed.

Charlton Athletic Ransomware - England, Aug 2024:
Attackers crippled legacy accounting systems, erasing financial data. While insurance softened the blow, the impact on long-term financial planning and trust with regulators was significant.

Leeds United Web Skimmer - England, Feb 2025:
A Magecart-style JavaScript skimmer compromised fans’ payment card details for nearly a week on the club’s online store. The ICO was notified, and the issue traced back to malicious third-party scripts - a reminder of how fragile e-commerce defences can be.

Manchester United Cyber Incident - England, Mar 2025:
A disruptive cyber-attack forced systems offline, though no fan data was immediately compromised. The NCSC was engaged – with the case highlighting operational risk to matchday systems and club continuity.

UEFA Champions League Instagram Hijack - Apr 2025:
The official account was seized to promote crypto scams, underlining the reach and influence attackers can gain by compromising verified social platforms.

Football’s digital and operational sprawl - spanning retail, media, and matchday infrastructure, makes it a perpetual high-value target.

Rugby - Tackled by Hackers:

Rugby has faced a mix of data protection lapses and matchday disruption risks. The Six Nations, Premiership clubs, and unions highlight the need for stronger resilience.

Welsh Rugby Union Data Exposure - Wales, May 2024:
Around 70,000 member records (including emails, addresses, and phone numbers) were exposed due to a third-party misconfiguration. While payment data was spared, phishing and impersonation risks rose sharply. It was a wake-up call on supplier diligence.

Scottish Rugby Six Nations Ticket Bot Attack - Scotland, Dec 2024:
Ticket sales for Murrayfield had to be suspended after bots swarmed the platform, unfairly buying up allocations. This left fans frustrated and underscored the vulnerability of sporting events to automated fraud.

Ulster Rugby Infrastructure Upgrade - Northern Ireland, 2024:
Proactively, Ulster Rugby invested in bolstering IT and cyber infrastructure to protect ticketing, broadcast, and stadium systems. This demonstrated a forward-thinking response to growing risks.

Rugby clubs and unions are highly dependent on fan trust and matchday revenue, meaning even short-lived disruptions can cascade into significant financial and reputational loss.

Cricket - Caught Behind by Cyber Threats:

Cricket combines the scale of international tournaments with deep community roots, creating dual risks: high-profile financial attacks and grassroots data breaches.

ECB Fan Data Protection Challenge - England, ongoing:
While not tied to a single incident, cricket’s reliance on centralised ticketing and fan management systems has been flagged by security observers as a point of vulnerability. The ECB’s work with external partners highlights both awareness and reliance on supply chain controls.

County Cricket Clubs & Fraud Attempts - Various, 2024–25:
Reports across county clubs note multiple phishing campaigns impersonating executives to divert supplier payments. These attacks align with broader Business Email Compromise (BEC) trends in UK sport.

Indian Premier League Breaches - Contextual, 2023–24:
Though not UK-based, IPL incidents (including ticket scams and broadcast piracy) have demonstrated how high-profile cricket tournaments remain a magnet for attackers - a trend equally applicable to England’s domestic and international fixtures.

Cricket clubs’ hybrid structure (commercial clubs + community arms) broadens the attack surface, while heavy use of email-driven processes leaves them vulnerable to BEC and fraud.

Athletics - Security False Starts:

Athletics may not face the same level of financial flow as football or cricket, but widespread community data handling, online registrations, and training systems create significant exposure.

UK Athletics IT Security Incident - England, Sept 2024
A major IT issue caused outages to the MyAthletics portal and Athletics Hub, disrupting course bookings and member services. Though not confirmed as a full-scale data breach, the operational impact was considerable.

Grassroots Club Exposure Risks - Ongoing
Many athletics clubs depend on volunteer IT staff and use consumer-grade apps to handle sensitive child and medical data. This reliance on poorly secured systems leaves them open to phishing, ransomware, and GDPR violations.

Athletics exemplifies how sports without billion-pound budgets and revenue streams are no less at risk. In fact, their lack of dedicated IT teams often increases their vulnerability.

Why Attackers Are Targeting UK Sports

UK sport is a high-value ecosystem with unique features that make it attractive to cyber criminals. Unlike traditional industries, sport brings together large financial flows, sensitive personal data, global fan engagement, and time-sensitive events. These ingredients create opportunities for attackers to monetise disruption, fraud, and data theft at scale.

Below is a breakdown of the primary motivations driving attacks against UK sport:

1. Financial Gain

Sport is money-driven. Clubs, associations, and events process high-value transactions daily - from ticketing and merchandising to sponsorship deals and broadcasting rights. Attackers exploit this high transaction velocity.

2. Data Value

Player, staff, and fan data is immensely valuable on the criminal market. Personal identifiable information (PII), medicals, and contracts can be exploited for identity theft, fraud, or extortion.

3. Operational Leverage

Matchdays and competitions are time-sensitive and high-profile. Disrupting these creates maximum leverage for ransom demands.

4. Fan Reach & Brand Abuse

Sports brands command massive followings. A single compromised social media account or fake ticket page can reach millions of fans instantly.

5. Third-Party Weaknesses

Sports organisations rely heavily on vendors and SaaS platforms (ticketing, marketing, retail, cloud services). Attackers know these indirect routes can be easier to exploit than the clubs themselves.

Unlike industries where attacks might aim for single objectives (e.g., financial theft or espionage), in sport attackers target across multiple layers simultaneously - from player data and sponsorship negotiations to stadium turnstiles and fan wallets. The unique blend of finance, fame, and fan reliance renders sport an especially tempting target.

Consequences of Breaches

Recommendations for UK Sports Organisations

E-Commerce & Retail Protection: Apply Subresource Integrity (SRI), strict Content Security Policies (CSPs), and third-party monitoring.
BEC Defence: Deploy phishing-resistant MFA, enforce supplier callbacks, and implement dual approval for transfers.
Ransomware Resilience: Maintain immutable backups, apply strong EDR tools, and isolate matchday/venue systems.
Social Media Protection: Use hardware security keys, limit admin roles, and prepare incident comms in advance.
Ticketing & Fan-Fraud Countermeasures: Deploy anti-bot solutions, highlight official sources, and proactively remove fake domains/socials.
Supplier Risk Management: Include breach clauses in contracts, review access permissions, and enforce SAML/MFA on vendor accounts.

Why Cyber Security Matters in Sport

Whether it’s footballers’ contracts, rugby membership databases, cricket sponsorship deals, or athletics safeguarding records, the UK sports sector handles data and financial flows of immense value. Cybercrime erodes trust, undermines revenue, and can disrupt entire competitions.

Organisations should view cyber resilience as a strategic priority. Frameworks like Cyber Essentials and CE Plus provide a baseline, while partnerships with cyber security providers like PureCyber ensure 24/7 monitoring, rapid incident response, and ongoing supply chain oversight.

PureCyber Has All The Resources You Need to Stay One Step Ahead.

From free online webinars in our Autumn Webinar Series, to AI threats, essential checklists and landscape reports, we’ve got you covered.

Discover expert-curated insights, tools, and resources to strengthen your organisation’s cyber resilience during the busiest season for attacks. The first webinar in our Autumn Series, Crisis Unfolding: Why Leaders Must Own Incident Response will walk you through the first critical few hours of a cyber incident using a realistic timeline - revealing exactly what you need to know to create an effective incident response plan.

You can explore further details about our Autumn Webinar Series by clicking the button below - three live, consecutive, monthly webinars covering cyber security from different perspectives and led by our expert team of cyber specialists.

How Can PureCyber Help?

The PureCyber team are here to take over the burden of your cyber security and ensure your organisation’s data remains secure and well managed, with proactive monitoring and real-time threat intelligence - providing you with a comprehensive and reliable cyber department to support you in all aspects of your security efforts, including: 24/7 Security Operations Centre (SOC) services, Managed Detection & Response (MDR/EDR),Threat Exposure Management (TEM) & Brand Protection Services & Penetration Testing.

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From Matchdays to Marathons: How Cyber Criminals Are Targeting Sport