Confusion reigns over Russian sportsbook hacking claims

Russia’s relatively small legal sports betting community is in uproar following claims last week by Digital Betting chief exec Dmitry Sergeyev that an unidentified but significant online bookmaker had been hacked and the stolen data was available at a price.

The hackers were apparently prepared to sell their ill-gotten gains for the equivalent of around $150,000 in the anonymous cyber currency Bitcoin.

The tantalising incomplete Sergeyev revelations triggered widespread speculation as to which major bookmaker had been raided, with strenuous denials from all concerned.

The fires were further fuelled when reports surfaced that the stolen (and still unidentified) data was now up for auction on a dark internet site. The seller claims that the data – around 1.5 million files – was hacked from the Liga Stavok site, which that company has vigorously denied, claiming that it is the victim of misinformation being propagated by an unnamed rival.

Whether the information for sale is genuine or even from Liva Stavok will perhaps be revealed on February 1 next year, when the auction is set to complete, unless a big-bucks buyer negotiates a private sale before then at an inflated price.

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