On Tuesday night, South African cricket fans looking for updates from Cricket South Africa (CSA) got more than they bargained for. Rather than the usual news about upcoming fixtures or player health, the organisation’s Facebook page found itself carrying images of softcore porn and links to adult sites.
The strange turn in content was apparently down to the page being hacked, with CSA unable to regain access to the account until the early hours of Wednesday morning.
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As well as posting the adult content, the attack also saw all CSA administrators removed from the page.
At this stage, it’s unclear whether the organisation was targeted or was the victim of a more widespread breach.
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It insists however that it had all the right privacy and security measures in place.
“All the people who have admin rights on Cricket South Africa’s page were kicked out, so we couldn’t get into Cricket South Africa’s page,” CSA spokesperson Altaaf Kazi told EyeWitness News. “We’ve since then contacted Facebook and done all the necessary procedures to ensure that the account is taken down. There has been no negligence from our side as far as I’m aware.”
The organisation also issued the following statement on its Facebook page on Wednesday morning:
Good morning everyone.
We would like to apologize for the inappropriate posts that came off this page during the course of last night and this morning. Our Facebook page was indeed hacked, but the issue has since been resolved and we have fortified our security measures to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again.
Regards
CSA Team
