The Asian Football Confederation suffered a data breach resulting in the leak of over 150,000 sensitive records, including passport scans, contracts, and player details, onto the dark web. The exposed data poses significant risks for financial fraud and targeted social engineering attacks against high-profile individuals. While no specific attack vector is detailed, cybersecurity experts are urging the organization and affected members to review data storage practices and remain vigilant against suspicious communications.
Data Security Asian Football Confederation reportedly suffers massive data breach April 30, 2026 Share By SC Staff (Adobe Stock) The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has reportedly been compromised, with sensitive data on over 150,000 members allegedly exposed on the dark web. The breach, advertised by a threat actor as the largest in football history, includes passport scans, contracts, and detailed player information, as reported by Tech Radar. A threat actor claimed on a dark web forum to have obtained and leaked a complete database of AFC players and coaches, including data from Al Nassr FC. The leaked records reportedly contain passport scans, contracts, emails, and registration files, alongside full names, dates of birth, nationalities, player positions, and match details. Researchers from Dataminr warned that this combination of data poses significant risks for financial fraud, contract manipulation, and targeted social engineering attacks against high-profile athletes. While the threat actor thanked ShinyHunters, Dataminr suggested this was likely a tactic to gain credibility. The AFC has not yet commented on the incident, but cybersecurity experts are urging the organization and its members to be vigilant about incoming communications and to review their data storage practices. Source: Tech Radar SC Staff Related Data Security Ryanair flight compensation data purportedly pilfered, leaked SC Staff April 30, 2026 Cybernews reports that European ultra low-cost airline Ryanair had its flight compensation data proliferating across underground cybercrime forums after a threat actor claimed to have breached the airline. Data Security Allegedly stolen Pitney Bowes data leaked by ShinyHunters SC Staff April 30, 2026 U.S. logistics technology firm Pitney Bowes had data purportedly stolen from its systems exposed by the ShinyHunters extortion group as part of its pay-or-leak attack spree, The Register reports. Network Security Microsoft to block legacy TLS connections for POP and IMAP in Exchange Online SC Staff April 29, 2026 This change means that POP3 and IMAP4 connections will require TLS 1.2 or later. Related Events Cybercast Beyond the Hype: The Cybersecurity Trends CISOs are Keeping an Eye on in 2026 On-Demand Event Cybercast Beyond the data perimeter: Why next-generation DSPM is the foundation for modern data security On-Demand Event Virtual Conference Securing the Future of Finance: Strategies to Counter Modern Cyber Threats On-Demand Event Get daily email updates SC Media's daily must-read of the most current and pressing daily news Business Email By clicking the Subscribe button below, you agree to SC Media Terms of Use and Privacy Policy . Subscribe Related Terms Byte Ciphertext Cryptographic Hash Functions Data Aggregation Data Encryption Standard (DES) Diffie-Hellman Digital Envelope Digital Signature Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA) Digital Signature Standard (DSS) You can skip this ad in 5 seconds