Anti-doping agencies subjected to 'significant' Russia-linked cyberattacks

Microsoft says a Russia-linked cyberhacking group has made "significant" attacks on at least 16 sports and anti-doping organizations across three continents since September.

The technology company said Monday the attacks are coming from a group associated with Fancy Bear, which has hacked into systems at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and elsewhere to publish reams of confidential medical material on Olympic athletes.

Fancy Bear was among those cited in a 2018 indictment brought by U.S. officials who accused Russia of seeking revenge against WADA, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and others that penalized the country based on evidence it engineered a wide-ranging, state-sponsored doping scandal.

Microsoft says the latest round of attacks began Sept. 16, the same week reports surfaced that Russia had manipulated data it provided WADA as the agency tries to corroborate doping cases.

Microsoft did not identify which agencies had been hacked. An IOC spokesman said the IOC does not comment on cyberattack reports. WADA said there was no evidence of any breach of its systems