WADA Registers 400 Cases From Russian Whistleblowers; 7 Charged With Hacking

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Photo Courtesy: Andy Ross

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has registered 400 cases after a flood of information from new whistleblowers, The Associated Press reported.

WADA officials also confirmed the organization supports a U.S. assessment that a 2016 hack of the agency was perpetrated by the Russian state.

The head of WADA’s investigations unit, Guenter Younger, told the AP the agency has been approached by numerous whistleblowers in the wake of Russian doping scandals.

Younger told news outlets that, despite the hack of WADA in 2016, its systems were secure.

Separately, WADA also backed the assessment in a U.S. indictment unsealed on Thursday of hackers working for the Russian state military intelligence agency targeted WADA and accessed athletes’ medical records.

The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday charged seven Russian military intelligence officers with hacking anti-doping agencies. Britain and the Netherlands accused the Russian GRU intelligence agency of a series of global cybercrimes.

“We have no reason to disagree with that assessment and, in fact, we’ve held that view all along,” WADA’s James Fitzgerald said in a Twitter post.

WADA reinstated the Russian anti-doping agency last month. That decision could still be reversed if Russia doesn’t follow through on a promise to provide data from a Moscow anti-doping lab which could contain key evidence of earlier over-ups.

Read the full AP story here.

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