A PREMIER League club nearly lost £1million when it was targeted by cyber criminals during a transfer deal.
Hackers infiltrated a club director’s email account as negotiations took place to sell a player to a European team.
He was conned into revealing his username and password in a phishing attack.
Using the details, the crooks nearly succeeded in getting the £1million payment diverted to their own account.
They failed only because the club’s bank clocked the dodgy transaction and blocked it.
It also emerged that hackers shut down a Football League club’s stadium hours before a match.
They had demanded 400 bitcoins, nearly £3million, to end their attack.
Somehow the crooks suspended security systems and blocked electronic turnstiles — meaning the game was nearly axed.
The National Cyber Security Centre — part of GCHQ — has warned sports teams they are high-value targets — with at least 70 per cent of clubs targeted every year.
Their Cyber Threat to Sports Organisations report also reveals a racecourse staff member lost £15,000 trying to buy equipment from a spoof eBay site.
Paul Chichester, director of operations at the NCSC, urged sports groups to boost their security systems.
He warned that the impact of cyber criminals is “very real”.
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