Phishing Attacks on Association Coordinating ‘Formula 1’ Result in Data Breach

• The FIA announced a data breach after hackers hit them with a phishing campaign.
• The breach exposed personal information in a couple of the association’s email accounts.
• The association coordinates F1 and other racing events, but no other details have been announced yet.

Unnamed hackers launched phishing attacks targeting the FIA, a non-profit international association that coordinates Formula 1 and other racing events. As a result, they gained unauthorized access to several of its email accounts. The compromised accounts contained personal data, and extra security measures against potential future attacks were added.

The cybercriminals behind the phishing attacks managed to breach two email accounts belonging to the FIA and the sensitive data they harbored. However, it’s not yet announced what information was exposed or stolen or who the impacted entities or individuals are.

The public announcement mentioned the association managed to stop the illegitimate third-party access rapidly and notified the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés (the French data protection regulator) and the Préposé Fédéral à la Protection des Données et à la Transparence (the Swiss data protection regulator). 

Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) coordinates many auto racing championships, including Formula 1 and the World Rally Championship (WRC). It was founded in 1904 to sustain the interests of motoring organizations and motor car users.

It has 244 international motoring and sporting organizations from 146 countries on 5 continents under its umbrella, with millions of motorists and their families also added via member clubs.

Earlier this year, the Grand Prix website was hacked to send out phishing emails with a fake €50 gift voucher lure to F1 fans after hackers reportedly infiltrated the official contact email.