The latest round of leaks identified 10 American athletes, five from Germany, five from Britain, and one each from Czech Republic, Denmark, Poland, Romania and Russian Federation.
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WADA said that similar to the leak that the agency announced on Tuesday, the group released confidential data of 25 athletes from eight countries “into the public domain”.
Russian cyber spies recently hacked the World Anti-Doping Agency and stole the medical data of worldwide Rio 2016 Olympic athletes.
The group has proclaimed its allegiance to Anonymous, the loose-knit movement of online mischief-makers, and says it hacked WADA to show the world “how Olympic medals are won”.
WADA said law enforcement believes the hackers are a Russia-based group, news that WADA’s Director General, Olivier Niggli, said is “greatly compromising the effort by the global anti-doping community to re-establish trust in Russian Federation”.
The group is thought to be carrying out the cyber attack in retaliation to WADA after the governing body released a report into the country’s state-sponsored doping programme, and requested a wholesale ban of the Russian Olympic team.
WADA said it “extended its investigation with the relevant law enforcement authorities”.
The first batch of documents was published by the hacker group on Tuesday, containing personal data of four American athletes – gymnast Simone Biles, tennis players Serena and Venus Willians and basketball player Elena Delle Donne.
TUEs exist to allow athletes with recognised medical conditions such as asthma, from which Rio gold medallist Wiggins suffers, to take drugs on WADA’s banned list for their ailment so they can compete in elite level sport. A BOA spokesperson said: “We are naturally concerned that private and personal data has been accessed and are working closely with UK Anti-Doping and our sports and to clarify the facts of this matter on behalf of all Team GB athletes”.
Furthermore, the Brit was supposedly granted permission to take asthma medications formoterol and budesonide in December 2008, while triamcinolone acetonide was approved due to a pollen allergy.
Fancy Bear is known for having extensively targeted defense ministries and other military systems in ways that often align with the strategic interests of the Russian government itself, leading to allegations that the group is directly affiliated with the GRU – Russia’s main intelligence service.
He said in a statement: “I’ve openly discussed my TUEs with the media and have no issues with the leak which only confirms my statements”.
But who are the Fancy Bears and why are they doing it?
WADA has said in a statement that the cyber attacks were an attempt to undermine the global anti-doping system.
The World Anti-Doping Agency had its records hacked and leaked earlier this week.
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When reached for comment, International Golf Federation vice president Ty Votaw told GOLF.com that WADA contacted the IGF on Thursday morning to advise them of the situation but anti-doping officials remain unsure whether more records, including those of other Olympic golfers, might be released.
