The US-based online pay TV distributor FuboTV suffered a cyberattack, which took place during a crucial semi-final match in the World Cup football competition taking place in Qatar.
The following is the company’s explanatory press release, in full:
“Statement From FuboTV Regarding December 14, 2022 Cyber Attack
12/15/2022
“FuboTV takes this matter very seriously. Once we detected the attack, we immediately took steps to contain the incident and worked to restore service to all of our users as quickly as possible. Service was fully restored by last evening. We deeply regret the disruption caused by this incident in the meantime.
“We have reported the incident to law enforcement and have engaged Mandiant, an industry-leading incident response firm, to assist with our continuing investigation and response. Our primary focus currently is on ensuring that the incident is fully contained and that there is no threat of further disruption for any of our customers.
“Our investigation is at an early stage, but we are committed to transparency regarding this incident. We will provide an update at an appropriate time when we have more information to share.
“The entire FuboTV team is absolutely dedicated to delivering an exceptional experience while protecting customer data. We appreciate the trust our customers have in us and the opportunity to serve them everyday. Although no company can ever be immune from the risk of cyber attacks, we assure you that we are working diligently with our outside cybersecurity experts to take all appropriate steps to remediate this incident and to prevent any similar incident from recurring in the future.”
(end, followed by FuboTV press release boilerplate. Source: FuboTV)
Read the press release via FuboTV Investor Relations: Statement From FuboTV Regarding December 14, 2022 Cyber Attack, 12/15/2022
Why it matters
This is far from the first time that a pay TV operator has been subject to a cyberattack (this one being virtual, not faciliies-based like a telco, cable or satellite operator). But this one is noteworthy because FuboTV made such a public response. In Piracy Monitor’s opinion, it took guts and it deserves a lot of credit.
It’s not yet known what the attackers wanted to accomplish: theft of customer data, theft of programming, theft of service, to disrupt service – or something else; pending investigation.
Abuse of customer data could subject FuboTV customers to phishing and malware attacks. Authentication credentials could give pirates a doorway to steal content or services.
In any case, cyberattacks are the first cousin of piracy and both should be taken seriously.
