Cardinals St. Louis Cardinals front office under FBI investigation for hacking - Page 9

ReynardMuldrake · 06-16-2015, 09:19 AM

WASHINGTON — The F.B.I. and Justice Department prosecutors are investigating front-office officials for the St. Louis Cardinals, one of the most successful teams in baseball over the past two decades, for hacking into the internal networks of a rival team to steal closely guarded information about player personnel.

Investigators have uncovered evidence that Cardinals officials broke into a network of the Houston Astros that housed special databases the team had built, according to law enforcement officials. Internal discussions about trades, proprietary statistics and scouting reports were compromised, the officials said.

The officials did not say which employees were the focus of the investigation or whether the team’s highest-ranking officials were aware of the hacking or authorized it. The investigation is being led by the F.B.I.’s Houston field office and has progressed to the point that subpoenas have been served on the Cardinals and Major League Baseball for electronic correspondence.

The Houston Astros hired Luhnow as general manager in December 2011. Before then he had been a successful and polarizing executive with the Cardinals. Credit David J. Phillip/Associated Press
The attack represents the first known case of corporate espionage in which a professional sports team has hacked the network of another team. Illegal intrusions into companies’ networks have become commonplace, but it is generally conducted by hackers operating in foreign countries, like Russia and China, who steal large tranches of data or trade secrets for military equipment and electronics.

Major League Baseball “has been aware of and has fully cooperated with the federal investigation into the illegal breach of the Astros’ baseball operations database,” a spokesman for baseball’s commissioner, Rob Manfred, said in a written statement.

The Cardinals officials under investigation have not been put on leave, suspended or fired. The commissioner’s office is likely to wait until the conclusion of the government’s investigation to determine whether to take disciplinary action against the officials or the team.

The case is a rare mark of ignominy for the Cardinals, one of the sport’s most revered and popular organizations. The team has the best record in baseball this season (42-21), regularly commands outsize television ratings and has reached the National League Championship Series nine times since 2000. The Cardinals, who last won the World Series in 2011, have 11 titles over all, second only to the Yankees.

Their owner, Bill DeWitt, is a highly regarded executive who last year was in charge of the search committee for a new commissioner to replace the retiring Bud Selig.

Law enforcement officials believe the hacking was executed by vengeful front-office employees for the Cardinals hoping to wreak havoc on the work of Jeff Luhnow, the Astros’ general manager who had been a successful and polarizing executive with the Cardinals until 2011.

From 1994 to 2012, the Astros and the Cardinals were division rivals, in the National League. For a part of that time, Mr. Luhnow was a Cardinals executive, primarily handling scouting and player development. One of many innovative thinkers drawn to the sport by the “Moneyball” phenomenon, he was credited with building baseball’s best minor league system, as well as drafting several players who would become linchpins of the Cardinals’ 2011 World Series-winning team.

The Astros hired Mr. Luhnow as general manager in December 2011, and he quickly began applying his unconventional approach to running a baseball team. In an exploration of the team’s radical transformation, Bloomberg Business called it “a project unlike anything baseball has seen before.”

Under Mr. Luhnow, the Astros have accomplished a striking turnaround; they are in first place in the American League West division. But in 2013, before their revival at the major league level, their internal deliberations about statistics and players were compromised, law enforcement officials said.

The intrusion did not appear to be sophisticated, the law enforcement officials said. When Mr. Luhnow was with the Cardinals, the organization built a computer network, called Redbird, to house all of their baseball operations information — including scouting reports and player personnel information. After leaving to join the Astros, and bringing some front-office personnel with him from the Cardinals, Houston created a similar program known as Ground Control.

Ground Control contained the Astros’ “collective baseball knowledge,” according to a Bloomberg Business article published last year. The program took a series of variables and “weights them according to the values determined by the team’s statisticians, physicist, doctors, scouts and coaches,” the article said.

Investigators believe Cardinals officials, concerned that Mr. Luhnow had taken their idea and proprietary baseball information to the Astros, examined a master list of passwords used by Mr. Luhnow and the other officials who had joined the Astros when they worked for the Cardinals. The Cardinals officials are believed to have used those passwords to gain access to the Astros’ network, law enforcement officials said.

Last year, some of the information was posted anonymously online, according to an article on Deadspin. Among the details that were exposed were trade discussions that the Astros had with other teams. Mr. Luhnow was asked at the time whether the breach would affect how he dealt with other teams. “Today I used a pencil and paper in all my conversations,” he said.

Believing that the Astros’ network had been compromised by a rogue hacker, Major League Baseball notified the F.B.I., and the authorities in Houston opened an investigation. Agents soon found that the Astros’ network had been entered from a computer at a home that some Cardinals officials had lived in. The agents then turned their attention to the team’s front office.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/17/sp...id=tw-bna&_r=0

Hootie · 06-16-2015, 01:33 PM

Uh no.

The Pats had to hear about Spygate for approximately 2 years before everyone forgot and stopped caring. It was literally dead until this latest cheating scandal.

This will be a big deal for about 6 months after the conclusion and then everyone will stop caring.

The public has the attention span that can only be measured in nano seconds.

George Liquor · 06-16-2015, 01:39 PM

http://dkonpittsburghsports.com/2015...d-for-hacking/

I know the vast majority of you hate the Cardinals, but this is a little less knee jerk and echos what DJ was saying.

Siap

Hootie · 06-16-2015, 01:40 PM

of course we would laugh at the Cards misery ... every team deserves to have some misery that isn't simply losing in game 5 of the NLCS every year they don't win a god damn World Series

DJ's left nut · 06-16-2015, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hootie 2.0

Uh no.

The Pats had to hear about Spygate for approximately 2 years before everyone forgot and stopped caring. It was literally dead until this latest cheating scandal.

This will be a big deal for about 6 months after the conclusion and then everyone will stop caring.

The public has the attention span that can only be measured in nano seconds.

Right up until they perform again.

The public forgot about Spygate...until the Pats were in another Super Bowl. Then they had to go through the wringer again. It'll be the same way with the Cards. The public will excoriate them every time they make the post-season. There's pretty much a cottage industry of trolling 'the BFIB' at this point - this will only get it spun up a little more.

Like I said - I don't really care about public reaction. I'd just really prefer see a good front office not get broken up. Baseball is the most rewarding sport there is when you have a good team, IMO. You get nightly content and if it's a bad outcome then you get a chance to wash it out the next night. Even when the Chiefs are good, it's one day a week with Monday as an afterglow and Friday as a gear up. Hockey and basketball are just so beholden to their playoffs that I don't give a shit during the regular season at all.

I'm not terribly interested in 90 loss seasons if we can avoid them.

George Liquor · 06-16-2015, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hootie 2.0

of course we would laugh at the Cards misery ... every team deserves to have some misery that isn't simply losing in game 5 of the NLCS every year they don't win a god damn World Series

I understand this. Hence that being my first post in this thread.

Hootie · 06-16-2015, 01:48 PM

as a guy who has spent his entire life hating the Cardinals ... I just can't figure out why I should care about this one?

I truly don't give a shit if they were stealing scouting reports from the Astros or if they were trying to embarrass them or what not

this one might be the most serious because they are actually committing a true crime here ... but it's the "cheating" scandal that I simply don't give a **** about

I didn't care about steroids, either. Hell, I wish players were still juicing. Not killing me, and I dig the long ball (and it made fantasy baseball more fun, too).

Bambi · 06-16-2015, 01:54 PM

Is Mizzou still going to want to do the Cardinals hat?

What a disaster...

Shox · 06-16-2015, 01:55 PM

What they gained will make zero impact. Assuming the report is true, the mere fact Cardinal personnel hacked into an opponents system is all that matters. That is a crime, a federal crime I believe. The Cardinals are going to get whacked pretty hard for this one.

**wazu** · 06-16-2015, 01:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Yes but y'see, I don't precisely give a wet shit about what the public will buy. Just as I wouldn't were I in Amnorix's shoes w/r/t the Patriots.

The public is a fickle beast that generally does resent sustained success - period. I understand that and I don't mind that. The Cardinals were nobody's darlings even before this so I don't care that this will further sully them in the eyes of the national public.

What I care about is that a front office that has excelled over the last decade or so largely because of its stability remains intact. If the rogue dipshit explanation is true, my front office remains in place and the wheels keep spinning...at least until that never-ending mass of !@#$ing Cubs premier hitting prospects runs us down. That happens regardless of whether or not 'the public will buy it'.

If 'rogue dipshit' isn't true...well damn, why couldn't this have happened a year ago so we could blow it up and steal Joe Maddon?

Besides - is there ANY outcome that's going to sate the public bloodlust here? Jesus, they could have emails from Mozeliak directing it, he could be fired on the spot and then kill himself and the national public would still laugh at the Cards misery. The Cards aren't coming out of this clear regardless of what happens so my druther's are that they at least come out of it with their front office largely intact.

I see it differently. The Cards are a proud franchise and part of that pride isn't just from winning, but from a rich culture that has always been generally admired around the country. A hit to their integrity of this magnitude is painful. Even as a Royals fan I don't want to see it. You don't want to become the Patriots. There is a lot more at stake here than just a few more good years.

Marcellus · 06-16-2015, 01:56 PM

Rumor on MLB Radio is it was 2 disgruntled Cards employees pissed at Lunhow for not bringing them to Houston and were trying to make him look bad.

Not sure if they are current or ex employees or where they got that info.

Swanman · 06-16-2015, 01:58 PM

Bambi · 06-16-2015, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marcellus

Rumor on MLB Radio is it was 2 disgruntled Cards employees pissed at Lunhow for not bringing them to Houston and were trying to make him look bad.

Not sure if they are current or ex employees or where they got that info.

So they try and make someone who works for the Astros "look bad" and end up screwing their own employer?

Sounds about right, haha

DJ's left nut · 06-16-2015, 02:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wazu

I see it differently. The Cards are a proud franchise and part of that pride isn't just from winning, but from a rich culture that has always been generally admired around the country. A hit to their integrity of this magnitude is painful. Even as a Royals fan I don't want to see it. You don't want to become the Patriots. There is a lot more at stake here than just a few more good years.

And that may be the case; but that's going to be the case either way. The damage there is done.

I'd prefer avoid the shot to the organization's prestige but I just don't see it as avoidable at this point. The Cards have combined the mortal sins of success and percieved hypocrisy. Regardless of whether or not the Cards and their fans hold themselves out as a higher, more 'pure' form of the game, there's definitely a perception that they do. And when something like this falls on their heads...well there's just not a good way to rebound without losing some shine.

**Reaper16** · 06-16-2015, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

Welp,

Embrace the full turn.

This is not a turn. At best the Cards have been John Cena for years: a megahero to their fans but in practice not only gets booed for being stale (albeit ultra-successful too) but also acts like a classic heel (i.e. a bully, a sore loser, etc).

kcpasco · 06-16-2015, 02:08 PM

Don't care, at this point I'll just embrace the hate. Wear it like a badge of honor.

06-16-2015, 09:19 AM
ReynardMuldrake 2 Legit 2 Colquitt Join Date: Sep 2010 Casino cash: $2155754	St. Louis Cardinals front office under FBI investigation for hacking WASHINGTON — The F.B.I. and Justice Department prosecutors are investigating front-office officials for the St. Louis Cardinals, one of the most successful teams in baseball over the past two decades, for hacking into the internal networks of a rival team to steal closely guarded information about player personnel. Investigators have uncovered evidence that Cardinals officials broke into a network of the Houston Astros that housed special databases the team had built, according to law enforcement officials. Internal discussions about trades, proprietary statistics and scouting reports were compromised, the officials said. The officials did not say which employees were the focus of the investigation or whether the team’s highest-ranking officials were aware of the hacking or authorized it. The investigation is being led by the F.B.I.’s Houston field office and has progressed to the point that subpoenas have been served on the Cardinals and Major League Baseball for electronic correspondence. The Houston Astros hired Luhnow as general manager in December 2011. Before then he had been a successful and polarizing executive with the Cardinals. Credit David J. Phillip/Associated Press The attack represents the first known case of corporate espionage in which a professional sports team has hacked the network of another team. Illegal intrusions into companies’ networks have become commonplace, but it is generally conducted by hackers operating in foreign countries, like Russia and China, who steal large tranches of data or trade secrets for military equipment and electronics. Major League Baseball “has been aware of and has fully cooperated with the federal investigation into the illegal breach of the Astros’ baseball operations database,” a spokesman for baseball’s commissioner, Rob Manfred, said in a written statement. The Cardinals officials under investigation have not been put on leave, suspended or fired. The commissioner’s office is likely to wait until the conclusion of the government’s investigation to determine whether to take disciplinary action against the officials or the team. The case is a rare mark of ignominy for the Cardinals, one of the sport’s most revered and popular organizations. The team has the best record in baseball this season (42-21), regularly commands outsize television ratings and has reached the National League Championship Series nine times since 2000. The Cardinals, who last won the World Series in 2011, have 11 titles over all, second only to the Yankees. Their owner, Bill DeWitt, is a highly regarded executive who last year was in charge of the search committee for a new commissioner to replace the retiring Bud Selig. Law enforcement officials believe the hacking was executed by vengeful front-office employees for the Cardinals hoping to wreak havoc on the work of Jeff Luhnow, the Astros’ general manager who had been a successful and polarizing executive with the Cardinals until 2011. From 1994 to 2012, the Astros and the Cardinals were division rivals, in the National League. For a part of that time, Mr. Luhnow was a Cardinals executive, primarily handling scouting and player development. One of many innovative thinkers drawn to the sport by the “Moneyball” phenomenon, he was credited with building baseball’s best minor league system, as well as drafting several players who would become linchpins of the Cardinals’ 2011 World Series-winning team. The Astros hired Mr. Luhnow as general manager in December 2011, and he quickly began applying his unconventional approach to running a baseball team. In an exploration of the team’s radical transformation, Bloomberg Business called it “a project unlike anything baseball has seen before.” Under Mr. Luhnow, the Astros have accomplished a striking turnaround; they are in first place in the American League West division. But in 2013, before their revival at the major league level, their internal deliberations about statistics and players were compromised, law enforcement officials said. The intrusion did not appear to be sophisticated, the law enforcement officials said. When Mr. Luhnow was with the Cardinals, the organization built a computer network, called Redbird, to house all of their baseball operations information — including scouting reports and player personnel information. After leaving to join the Astros, and bringing some front-office personnel with him from the Cardinals, Houston created a similar program known as Ground Control. Ground Control contained the Astros’ “collective baseball knowledge,” according to a Bloomberg Business article published last year. The program took a series of variables and “weights them according to the values determined by the team’s statisticians, physicist, doctors, scouts and coaches,” the article said. Investigators believe Cardinals officials, concerned that Mr. Luhnow had taken their idea and proprietary baseball information to the Astros, examined a master list of passwords used by Mr. Luhnow and the other officials who had joined the Astros when they worked for the Cardinals. The Cardinals officials are believed to have used those passwords to gain access to the Astros’ network, law enforcement officials said. Last year, some of the information was posted anonymously online, according to an article on Deadspin. Among the details that were exposed were trade discussions that the Astros had with other teams. Mr. Luhnow was asked at the time whether the breach would affect how he dealt with other teams. “Today I used a pencil and paper in all my conversations,” he said. Believing that the Astros’ network had been compromised by a rogue hacker, Major League Baseball notified the F.B.I., and the authorities in Houston opened an investigation. Agents soon found that the Astros’ network had been entered from a computer at a home that some Cardinals officials had lived in. The agents then turned their attention to the team’s front office. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/17/sp...id=tw-bna&_r=0
Posts: 4,899

06-16-2015, 01:33 PM	#121
Hootie Banned Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Dallas, Texas Casino cash: $10004900	Uh no. The Pats had to hear about Spygate for approximately 2 years before everyone forgot and stopped caring. It was literally dead until this latest cheating scandal. This will be a big deal for about 6 months after the conclusion and then everyone will stop caring. The public has the attention span that can only be measured in nano seconds.
Posts: 56,356

06-16-2015, 01:39 PM	#122
George Liquor MVP Join Date: Nov 2013 Casino cash: $-1030150	http://dkonpittsburghsports.com/2015...d-for-hacking/ I know the vast majority of you hate the Cardinals, but this is a little less knee jerk and echos what DJ was saying. Siap
Posts: 18,480

06-16-2015, 01:40 PM	#123
Hootie Banned Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Dallas, Texas Casino cash: $10004900	of course we would laugh at the Cards misery ... every team deserves to have some misery that isn't simply losing in game 5 of the NLCS every year they don't win a god damn World Series
Posts: 56,356

06-16-2015, 01:48 PM	#126
Hootie Banned Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Dallas, Texas Casino cash: $10004900	as a guy who has spent his entire life hating the Cardinals ... I just can't figure out why I should care about this one? I truly don't give a shit if they were stealing scouting reports from the Astros or if they were trying to embarrass them or what not this one might be the most serious because they are actually committing a true crime here ... but it's the "cheating" scandal that I simply don't give a **** about I didn't care about steroids, either. Hell, I wish players were still juicing. Not killing me, and I dig the long ball (and it made fantasy baseball more fun, too).
Posts: 56,356

06-16-2015, 01:54 PM	#127
Bambi Banned Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: New York City Casino cash: $10036993	Is Mizzou still going to want to do the Cardinals hat? What a disaster...
Posts: 17,810

06-16-2015, 01:55 PM	#128
Shox Starter Join Date: Mar 2005 Casino cash: $10005765	What they gained will make zero impact. Assuming the report is true, the mere fact Cardinal personnel hacked into an opponents system is all that matters. That is a crime, a federal crime I believe. The Cardinals are going to get whacked pretty hard for this one.
Posts: 718

06-16-2015, 01:56 PM	#130
Marcellus Diablo Negro Join Date: Sep 2003 Casino cash: $-567338	Rumor on MLB Radio is it was 2 disgruntled Cards employees pissed at Lunhow for not bringing them to Houston and were trying to make him look bad. Not sure if they are current or ex employees or where they got that info.
Posts: 74,427

06-16-2015, 01:58 PM	#131
Swanman It's a league game, Dude Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Itasca, IL Casino cash: $9967354
Posts: 4,719

06-16-2015, 02:08 PM	#135
kcpasco MVP Join Date: Sep 2007 Casino cash: $6143463	Don't care, at this point I'll just embrace the hate. Wear it like a badge of honor.
Posts: 15,946