AFL Victoria orders probe as sensitive Mornington Peninsula Football Club’s data sent to rival team

A Victorian football club’s confidential player details have been sent to a rival team in a serious security bungle with payments and personal addresses shared, leaving the coach concerned it will happen again.

A serious breach of a suburban footy club’s private information has sparked a statewide investigation into how the confidential data of grassroots Victorian football teams is stored.

AFL Victoria has ordered a probe after sensitive details of a Mornington Peninsula and Nepean Football League club were sent to a rival team recently.

In a major security bungle involving AFL Victoria’s statewide internet portal, details of player payments, contracts, club financials and personal addresses were compromised.

AFL Victoria confirmed the breach — which saw Mornington Football Club’s details sent to Mt Eliza Football Club — but was unable to say if other cases had occurred.

Mornington Football Club president Robert Smith was shocked delicate and personal information had been compromised and said “you can’t say it won’t happen again’’.

“It’s a bad breach and the ramifications could be quite significant,’’ he said.

In a major security bungle involving AFL Victoria’s statewide internet portal, details of player payments, club financials and personal addresses were compromised.

“It’s an embarrassment. I had to stand up in front of my boys on the weekend and say ‘your personal information has been breached’.’’

The records of up to 1223 clubs and 6886 teams statewide are believed to be kept on the breached portal.

AFL Victoria spokeswoman Reyyan Atmaca​ said the governing body was “aware of an unintended data breach involving two clubs in the MPNFL”.

“The breach occurred as a result of human error by a third-party software supplier,” she said.

“Once made aware, AFL Victoria immediately shut the system down until the issue was resolved and is currently undergoing a review of the third-party portal to ensure the process protects relevant club information.”

AFL Victoria confirmed the breach — which saw Mornington Football Club’s details sent to Mt Eliza Football Club — but was unable to say if other cases had occurred. Picture: Supplied

Mt Eliza president Michael Dunne said a club official had trouble uploading a new player contract to the portal and was instead sent a link to Mornington’s private data.

“We had access to all their contracts, all their financial details,” he said.

“Without asking any security questions, any passwords, we could access any of that info. It was just an absurd situation.”

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Mr Dunne, who alerted Mornington FC to the breach, said the AFL told clubs about 18 months ago the system was “absolutely confidential”.

“We were assured that the information was 100 per cent secure,” he said.

“We don’t know if this was a one-off or not, no one can tell us.

“The question has to be asked — has this ever happened before?”

He said clubs deserved answers and assurances the system was safe before uploading more private data.

“This is personal, confidential information and I think we deserve a full explanation,” he said.

“We’ve got no understanding of what happens to the information that goes up there.”

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