As the Bengals and Rams get ready to square off in Super Bowl LVI on Sunday, another football team is playing defense against a ransomware attack.
The San Francisco 49ers confirmed Sunday morning that they had fallen victim to a ransomware attack that encrypted files on their corporate IT network. The operators of the BlackByte ransomware listed the team as one of their victims on Saturday on a dark web “leak site,” where the group shames victims to try and force them into paying money via extortion, according to the Record.
“Upon learning of the incident, we immediately initiated an investigation and took steps to contain the incident,” the team told the outlet. “While the investigation is ongoing, we believe the incident is limited to our corporate IT network; to date, we have no indication that this incident involves systems outside of our corporate network, such as those connected to Levi’s Stadium operations or ticket holders.”
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If the 49ers had made it to the Super Bowl, the ransomware attack would have been on a much larger scale and disrupted the team’s game preparations, the outlet reported.
The 49ers told the outlet they had notified law enforcement and are working with third-party cybersecurity firms to investigate the attack. The team added it is “working diligently to restore involved systems as quickly and as safely as possible,” the team said.
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The San Francisco 49ers have not yet responded to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
