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Agence France-Presse

The World Anti-Doping Agency on Tuesday slammed Russian hackers who breached its database and published confidential records of US Olympic gymnast Simone Biles and tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams.
Wada said the Russian cyber-espionage group Tsar Team (APT28), also known as Fancy Bears, had broken into its Anti-Doping Administration and Management System (Adams) database.
The hacking group released information gleaned from the files of Biles, the Williams sisters and US women’s basketball player Elena Delle Donne.
In a posting on its website, Fancy Bears claimed US athletes at the Olympics had “played well but not fair”.

However, none of the documents published by the group showed wrongdoing.
Instead, the disclosed files set out instances where the athletes had been granted exemptions to use various medications for legitimate reasons – a common practice in the sports world.
The United States Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) characterised the hack as a “cowardly and despicable” attempt to smear the four women.
“In each of the situations, the athlete has done everything right in adhering to the global rules for obtaining permission to use a needed medication,” Usada chief executive Travis Tygart said.
“The cyber-bullying of innocent athletes being engaged by these hackers is cowardly and despicable,” added Tygart, the anti-doping czar who famously helped expose US cyclist and dope cheat Lance Armstrong.

WADA Confirms Attack by Russian Cyber Espionage Group: https://t.co/PTBIxeOM9w
— WADA (@wada_ama) September 13, 2016

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Biles said on Twitter she had taken medications for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) since childhood.
“Please know I believe in clean sport, have always followed the rules and will continue to do so as fair play is critical to sport and is very important to me,” said Biles, one of the stars of the Rio Olympics after winning four gold medals.
Venus Williams, meanwhile, expressed “disappointment” at the breach, stating: “I am one of the strongest supporters of maintaining the highest level of integrity in competitive sport.”
An International Olympic Committee (IOC) spokeswoman said the leaked information was “clearly aimed at tarnishing the reputation of clean athletes” while stating that no anti-doping violation had occurred.

pic.twitter.com/tPxCJ1K2RZ
— Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) September 13, 2016

<![CDATA[// ><!]]>

The data breach comes just weeks after hackers gained access to Wada’s file on Russian doping whistleblower Yulia Stepanova.
Stepanova, who is living in hiding in the United States, later said she feared for her life following the hack.
“Wada deeply regrets this situation and is very conscious of the threat that it represents to athletes whose confidential information has been divulged through this criminal act,” Wada director general Olivier Niggli said in a statement.

“Wada condemns these ongoing cyber-attacks that are being carried out in an attempt to undermine Wada and the global anti-doping system,” Niggli added.
Wada said it believed the latest breach had occurred after “spear phishing” of email accounts and that it had been confined to Adams accounts of athletes competing in Rio.
Spear phishing is when an email user receives a message purportedly from someone they know, but it is actually from a hacker.

USA Gymnastics statement regarding Simone Biles and WADA hack: pic.twitter.com/YTq2iVS7Vu
— USA Gymnastics (@USAGym) September 13, 2016

<![CDATA[// ><!]]>

The hacking comes after a series of Wada investigations which have alleged a vast state-sponsored doping programme in Russian sport dating back several years.
Russia’s track and field athletes were banned from the Rio Olympics by the International Association of Athletics Federations, angering the Kremlin, which condemned the move as politically motivated.
But an independent report commissioned by Wada and published in July by Canadian law professor Richard McLaren concluded that Russia had run an elaborate scheme to evade drug-testers at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, corroborating claims by the former head of Russia’s anti-doping laboratory.

Wada director Niggli said the hacking of the agency would hamper Russian efforts to reintegrate into the sports world.
“These criminal acts are greatly compromising the effort by the global anti-doping community to re-establish trust in Russia further to the outcomes of the Agency’s independent McLaren Investigation Report,” Niggli continued.
Fancy Bears, however, indicated it planned to release more information.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” the group said on its website.
“Wait for sensational proof of famous athletes taking doping substances any time soon.”

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Wada cries foul as Russian hackers reveal medical secrets of US Olympics stars Simone Biles and the Williams sisters

The hacked report revealed Olympic gymnastics champion Simone Biles had been granted a medical exemption for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Photo: AP

FILE - In this July 6, 2015 file photo Russian doping whistleblower Yuliya Stepanova, who ran under a neutral flag, leaves the track after suffering an injury in a women's 800m heat during the European Athletics Championships in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Stepanova is in fear of her safety, switching residences after hackers breached a database that records her whereabouts. Stepanova and her husband, Vitaly, were the informers who detailed a state-run doping system in Russia that led to the ouster of the country's athletes from the Olympic track meet. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)

(FILES) This file photo taken on September 5, 2016 shows Serena Williams of US hitting a return against Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan during their 2016 US Open Women's Singles match at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. Williams downed Yaroslava Shvedova to make the quarter-finals for a record 308th Grand Slam match win, going past the 307 she had shared for just two days with Roger Federer. / AFP PHOTO / EDUARDO MUNOZ ALVAREZ

FILE - This Aug. 6, 2016 file photo shows Venus Williams, of the United States, returning against Kirsten Flipkens, of Belarus, at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Confidential medical data of gold medal-winning gymnast Simone Biles, seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams and other female U.S. Olympians was hacked from a World Anti-Doping Agency database and posted online Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016. WADA said the hackers were a "Russian cyber espionage group" called Fancy Bears. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

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Cyber-espionage group Tsar Team (APT28), also known as Fancy Bears, broke into the Administration and Management System (Adams) database


Russian doping scandal

US-Russia relations

Wada cries foul as Russian hackers reveal medical secrets of US Olympics stars Simone Biles and the Williams sisters

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Cyber-espionage group Tsar Team (APT28), also known as Fancy Bears, broke into the Administration and Management System (Adams) database

Cyber-espionage group Tsar Team (APT28), also known as Fancy Bears, broke into the Administration and Management System (Adams) database