Wimbledon security chiefs 'on high alert' amid fears over Russian cyberattacks

Wimbledon bosses are said to be on "high alert" amid fears of Russian security attacks following the All England Club's ban on players hailing from the nation amid the war in Ukraine. The tournament is offering a record prize pot of £40,350,000 this year, incentivising players to compete despite the ATP and WTA Tours removing all ranking points on offer.

Wimbledon's ban on Russian and Belarusian players has heightened fears of a security attack on the tournament, according to The Times. There are concerns that hackers will be able to break into the scoring system during matches though IBM - in charge of the tournament's cybersecurity - is "confident" in their system's ability to deal with an enhanced threat.

The system is in charge of scheduling, statistics and results as well as live match scoring, giving hackers multiple avenues for a potential cyberattack. But Wimbledon has denied any increased hacking attempts, though The Times heard from one member of the AELTC that admitted concerns over attacks disrupting the tournament following similar incidents involving Russia.

It would not be the first time the country planned a cyberattack on the sporting world in response to a ban. After the World Anti Doping Agency recommended a ban on Russian athletes from the 2016 Rio Olympics following the discovery of state-sponsored doping, one of the country's hacking operations gained access to files from multiple sporting organisations, including WADA itself as well as FIFA.

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But IBM remains confident that it will be able to detect cyberattacks and prevent any security breaches as they have done in previous editions of the tournament. "Inevitably, such a