Football governing body FIFA has reportedly been hacked for a second time and is expecting revelations to become widespread in the next few days.
Information compromised in the latest hack, said to have happened in March, is not yet clear, according to the New York Times.
But an unspecified consortium of European media organisations plans to publish stories based on the accessed internal documents in the next few days, it added, including Football Leaks.
“We are concerned by the fact that some information has been obtained illegally,” FIFA said in a statement, as quoted by the BBC.
“We condemn any attempt to compromise the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data.”
Officials from UEFA, Europe’s football governing body, are also thought to have been targeted by a phishing operation.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino said both FIFA and UEFA had received questions from journalists regarding information that was thought to be confidential, the New York Times added.
Computer Business Review has contacted FIFA for comment.
“Fancy Bear” FIFA Hack
FIFA suffered its first hack at the hands of a Russian military intelligence organisation, which led to the publication of a list of footballers who had failed a drugs test, among other revelations.
The group of attackers in this case, known as “Fancy Bears”, was part of a wider Russian operation to target businesses and political institutions in media and sport, according to the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).
“These attacks have been conducted in flagrant violation of international law, have affected citizens in a large number of countries, including Russia, and have cost national economies millions of pounds,” the NCSC said.
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt added: “The GRU’s actions are reckless and indiscriminate: they try to undermine and interfere in elections in other countries; they are even prepared to damage Russian companies and Russian citizens.
“This pattern of behaviour demonstrates their desire to operate without regard to international law or established norms and to do so with a feeling of impunity and without consequences.”
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