San Francisco 49ers' network hit by gang's ransomware attack; team notifies law enforcement

RICHMOND, Va. — The San Francisco 49ers have been hit by a ransomware attack, with cyber criminals claiming they stole some of the football team's financial data.

The ransomware gang BlackByte recently posted some of the purportedly stolen team documents on a site on the dark web in a file marked «2020 Invoices.» The gang did not make any of its ransom demands public or specify how much data it had stolen or encrypted.

The team, which is among the most valuable and storied franchises in the NFL and lost a close playoff game two weeks ago, said in a statement Sunday that it recently became aware of a «network security incident» that had disrupted some of its corporate IT network systems. The 49ers said they'd notified law enforcement and hired cybersecurity firms to assist.

«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,» the team said in a statement, referencing its home stadium.

News of the attack comes two days after the FBI and U.S. Secret Service issued an alert on BlackByte ransomware, saying it had «compromised multiple U.S. and foreign businesses, including entities in at least three U.S. critical infrastructure sectors» since November.

Ransomware gangs, which hack targets and hold their data hostage through encryption, have caused widespread havoc in the last year with high-profile attacks on the world's largest meat-packing company, the biggest U.S. fuel pipeline and other targets. Western governments have pledged to crack down on the cyber criminals, who operate largely in and around Russia, but have little to show for their efforts.

In the past month, ransomware victims have included