Hackers have access to Verstappen’s personal data in case of Formula 1 breach

Formula 1’s governing body confirmed on Thursday that it had suffered a cyber security breach in which the personal details of drivers, including four-time world champion Max Verstappen, were exposed by hackers.

In a statement issued at the Mexico City Grand Prix, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) said the incident took place “during the summer” and steps had been taken to secure the data.

The breach relates to the FIA’s Driver Classification website, where hackers were able to find information including passport numbers and personal contact details for nearly 7,000 drivers.

“Immediate measures were taken to secure the drivers’ data and the FIA ​​reported this matter to the relevant data protection authorities in accordance with the FIA’s obligations,” the statement said.

“It has also notified the small number of drivers affected by this issue. No other FIA digital platforms were affected in this incident.

“The FIA ​​has invested extensively in cyber security and resilience measures across its digital estate. It has put in place world-class data security measures to protect all its stakeholders and applies a security-by-design policy to all new digital initiatives,” he added.

The incident was made public by security researcher Ian Carroll on Wednesday.

He explained that he and two colleagues had access to the confidential information in June after their request to become site administrators was accepted.

They were able to access Verstappen’s CV, licence, passport and other data.

“We stopped testing after seeing that passport, resume, license, password hash and PII (personal information) were accessible,” Carroll said, according to Crash.net.

“This data was accessible for all F1 drivers with a classification, along with sensitive FIA ​​internal operations information. We did not have access to passports or sensitive information and all data has been deleted,” he added.

The incident proved embarrassing for world motorsport’s governing body, resulting in the website being taken offline on June 3 before a “comprehensive” overhaul was completed a week later.

Verstappen, who is competing in this weekend’s grand prix and is chasing his fifth world title, has not commented publicly on the breach but was expected to speak to reporters later on Thursday.