FBI Investigating Cardinals For Hacking Astros’ Database

The FBI is investigating the St. Louis Cardinals for hacking into the Houston Astros’ database, according to the The New York Times.

FBI Investigating Cardinals For Hacking Astros’ Database

The article stated that investigators have put forward evidence suggesting that Cardinals officials hacked into the Houston Astros’ database, stealing “internal discussions about trades, proprietary statistics and scouting reports.”

It is unknown whether or not the high executives in the St. Louis organization knew about the hacking. At the same time, Commissioner Manfred has not acted and waits to see the results of the FBI’s findings before delivering a punishment.

“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,” the MLB said in a statement. “Once the investigative process has been completed by federal law enforcement officials, we will evaluate the next steps and will make decisions promptly.”

The alleged hacking is over Houston GM Jeff Luhnow’s system, according to The New York Times. Originally an executive for St. Louis from 2003-2011, Luhnow took some of what he learned and implemented it in Houston as the general manager. One of those things was called “Redbird,” a database that housed all of the Card’s scouting reports, player information and other things of that nature. After leaving St. Louis for Houston, he implemented a more advanced version of that system called “Ground Control” at his new ball club.

The FBI also stated that the actual hacking was far from “sophisticated,” as the hacker only used a list of Luhnow’s old passwords to break into “Ground Control.” This investigation dates back to last year when a slew of Astros’ internal information was released anonymously onto the Internet.

The Cardinals currently have a league’s best 42-21 record, while the Astros sit in first place of the AL West with a 37-28 record.