Argentina were allegedly the subject of a hacking that caused accredited members of Argentinian media to receive threats of further cyber-attacks if ‘justice’ isn’t served over the World Cup referee controversy
The Argentine Football Federation (AFA) has claimed its systems were infiltrated by Egyptian hackers, who subsequently sent mass emails asserting their win over Egypt was “snatched by corrupt refereeing decisions”.
The defending champions are reported to have been targeted in a cyber attack that resulted in accredited Argentine journalists receiving threats of further digital strikes unless ‘justice’ is delivered.
According to a report from Argentine outlet La Calle, the emails, dispatched from AFA email addresses, called into question the performance of French referee François Letexier. The messages stated that “Argentina did not win” and that the victory resulted from “corrupt refereeing decisions,” while praising the Egyptians’ display.
The outlet suggests that the group of hackers of Egyptian origin breached part of the federation’s database, obtaining email addresses, passwords, IP addresses, and specialist form data. Following the mass circulation of emails to journalists, Argentina released an urgent statement distancing themselves from any activity originating from their channels that appeared “unusual”.
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Their statement read: “Dear colleagues, we would like to inform you that we have detected the possible sending of emails from one of our institutional accounts that were neither generated nor authorised by our team.
“Given this situation, and while we conduct the corresponding verifications with the IT department, we would like to inform you that…We ask that you disregard any messages you have recently received from our account that seem unusual..”, reports the Mirror.
“There is a possibility that our account has been the subject of unauthorised access, so we are working to clarify what happened and take the necessary security measures. Our systems have the corresponding security and safeguards in place.
“Thank you very much for your attention and cooperation.”
The Pharaohs found themselves on the wrong end of a dramatic World Cup turnaround as Lionel Messi spearheaded a second-half revival to keep their hopes of retaining their title intact.
Mohamed Salah and his teammates established a two-goal advantage and appeared poised to shock the world champions, only for Messi to both score and provide an assist in a 3-2 victory for Lionel Scaloni’s team.
The fixture was overshadowed, however, by furious reactions from the Egyptian camp, who felt aggrieved by officiating decisions.
Ziko’s potential second goal was disallowed due to an infringement in the build-up, while Salah was refused a penalty during the sequence of play that led to Enzo Fernandez’s decisive strike.
Meanwhile, the contents mirrored grievances and criticisms voiced by manager Hossam Hassan and Mostafa Ziko. The criticisms, however, were met with a resolute response from FIFA’s Chief Refereeing Officer, Pierluigi Collina.
The former World Cup final referee came to the defence of his fellow officials in the face of mounting criticism. He said: “Constructive discussion about decisions will always be part of football, but unfounded allegations have no place in our sport. Nobody can question the integrity of the FIFA World Cup match officials.”
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