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Victimpool FC - Klopp leaving, grown men crying

Liverpool paid Emirates Marketing Project £1m ‘spy’ settlement

Liverpool paid a £1 million settlement to Emirates Marketing Project after their Premier League rivals made a complaint that their scouting system had been hacked into.

The confidential settlement took place in September 2013 after it was reported that City had employed computer-espionage experts to see if the system had been spied on.

The scandal would appear to be the biggest incident of alleged misbehaviour by one top-flight club to another in the Premier League’s history.

The settlement came a year after three former City scouts moved to Liverpool. Two of them, as well as Michael Edwards who is now Liverpool’s sporting director, were alleged by City to have been involved in accessing their database on the Scout7 system on hundreds of occasions.

The two scouts alleged to have been involved in accessing City’s Scout7 system were Dave Fallows, now Liverpool’s head of recruitment, and Julian Ward, who was Liverpool’s European scouting manager for Spain and Portugal and is now the loan pathways and football partnerships manager.

The £1 million settlement was made without Liverpool or the accused individuals accepting any liability or wrongdoing. The allegations and the information on which they were based were never tested in court.

City declined to comment when contacted by The Times. Liverpool said it was unable to respond in the time available and would not comment on confidential club matters.

It is understood to have followed a legal complaint by City to Liverpool and the three employees in July 2013, which alleged that the system had been unlawfully accessed using the login and password of a City scout over an eight-month period from June 2012 to February 2013. If proven, such behaviour would look to have contravened the Premier League’s rules, which stated both in 2012 and now: “Each club shall behave towards each other club and the League with the utmost good faith.”

A source close to the Premier League said they were unaware of the settlement at the time. After suspicions were raised, City appointed a forensic computer expert able to carry out an investigation, which tracked suspicious logins and IP addresses.

It was reported in several media outlets in June 2013 that City believed that their worldwide scouting database may have been hacked by an employee of an unnamed rival Premier League club and that computer espionage experts had been brought in by the club to examine any possible leads.

It was suggested that City had even speeded up the deals to sign Fernandinho, the Brazil midfielder, from Shakhtar Donetsk and Jesús Navas, the Spain winger, from Seville after discovering the possible breach of security in the system.

It is believed that concerns were first raised after City discovered Liverpool had expressed interest in a youth player from Spanish club Zaragoza called Paolo Fernandes, whom they were also tracking. Fernandes, a 21-year-old midfielder, signed for City in 2017 and is on loan at Perugia.

The Times understands that City’s investigations suggested that access to the Scout7 system may have been gained using the login and password of one of their own scouts.

The revelation of the scandal comes with Liverpool and City vying to be the top team in England. The clubs are once more fighting it out to be crowned champions of the Premier League after last season’s neck-and-neck title race, which Pep Guardiola’s team won by a single point, while Jürgen Klopp’s side went on to win the Champions League.

It will be another controversy in the recent history of the two clubs: City’s team bus was pelted with objects by Liverpool fans, leading to a smashed window, as it arrived at Anfield for a Champions League match between the teams in April 2018.

After the reports in June 2013 of the alleged access to City’s scouting system, the Birmingham-based company Scout7 insisted that the integrity of its system remained intact.

A statement from Scout7 in 2013 read: “We understand that the incident is still being investigated but involves use of valid passwords obtained from the club concerned to gain illegal access to a private database. The security or technical integrity of Scout7 systems has not been undermined by this incident.

“Scout7 point out that the security and confidentiality of clients’ databases has always been and remains of the utmost importance and protecting clubs’ private data continues to be an integral feature of our systems.”

About 2,000 employees of different clubs have access to the system, which is regarded as a world leader of its type, with a complex system of passwords for the users.

Ian Ayre was Liverpool’s managing director at the time and is understood to have been involved in handling the complaint by City. There is no suggestion he had any knowledge of any attempts to access City’s scouting database. He stepped down in 2017.

It was reported in March this year that Liverpool were among the clubs that had pushed the Premier League to investigate City for alleged breaches of financial fair play rules after allegations made by the German magazine Der Spiegel. Liverpool’s American owners have previously stated one of the reasons they invested in the club was because of the Premier League’s strong financial regulations.

Der Spiegel cited documents from the Football Leaks cache and alleged City had provided misleading financial information. City have denied any wrongdoing and are challenging an FFP case brought by Uefa in the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
 
jts1882 said:
Liverpool paid Emirates Marketing Project £1m ‘spy’ settlement

Liverpool paid a £1 million settlement to Emirates Marketing Project after their Premier League rivals made a complaint that their scouting system had been hacked into.

The confidential settlement took place in September 2013 after it was reported that City had employed computer-espionage experts to see if the system had been spied on.

The scandal would appear to be the biggest incident of alleged misbehaviour by one top-flight club to another in the Premier League’s history.

The settlement came a year after three former City scouts moved to Liverpool. Two of them, as well as Michael Edwards who is now Liverpool’s sporting director, were alleged by City to have been involved in accessing their database on the Scout7 system on hundreds of occasions.

The two scouts alleged to have been involved in accessing City’s Scout7 system were Dave Fallows, now Liverpool’s head of recruitment, and Julian Ward, who was Liverpool’s European scouting manager for Spain and Portugal and is now the loan pathways and football partnerships manager.

The £1 million settlement was made without Liverpool or the accused individuals accepting any liability or wrongdoing. The allegations and the information on which they were based were never tested in court.

City declined to comment when contacted by The Times. Liverpool said it was unable to respond in the time available and would not comment on confidential club matters.

It is understood to have followed a legal complaint by City to Liverpool and the three employees in July 2013, which alleged that the system had been unlawfully accessed using the login and password of a City scout over an eight-month period from June 2012 to February 2013. If proven, such behaviour would look to have contravened the Premier League’s rules, which stated both in 2012 and now: “Each club shall behave towards each other club and the League with the utmost good faith.”

A source close to the Premier League said they were unaware of the settlement at the time. After suspicions were raised, City appointed a forensic computer expert able to carry out an investigation, which tracked suspicious logins and IP addresses.

It was reported in several media outlets in June 2013 that City believed that their worldwide scouting database may have been hacked by an employee of an unnamed rival Premier League club and that computer espionage experts had been bought in by the club to examine any possible leads.

It was suggested that City had even speeded up the deals to sign Fernandinho, the Brazil midfielder, from Shakhtar Donetsk and Jesús Navas, the Spain winger, from Seville after discovering the possible breach of security in the system.

It is believed that concerns were first raised after City discovered Liverpool had expressed interest in a youth player from Spanish club Zaragoza called Paolo Fernandes, whom they were also tracking. Fernandes, a 21-year-old midfielder, signed for City in 2017 and is on loan at Perugia.

The Times understands that City’s investigations suggested that access to the Scout7 system may have been gained using the login and password of one of their own scouts.

The revelation of the scandal comes with Liverpool and City vying to be the top team in England. The clubs are once more fighting it out to be crowned champions of the Premier League after last season’s neck-and-neck title race, which Pep Guardiola’s team won by a single point, while Jürgen Klopp’s side went on to win the Champions League.

It will be another controversy in the recent history of the two clubs: City’s team bus was pelted with objects by Liverpool fans, leading to a smashed window, as it arrived at Anfield for a Champions League match between the teams in April 2018.

After the reports in June 2013 of the alleged access to City’s scouting system, the Birmingham-based company Scout7 insisted that the integrity of its system remained intact.

A statement from Scout7 in 2013 read: “We understand that the incident is still being investigated but involves use of valid passwords obtained from the club concerned to gain illegal access to a private database. The security or technical integrity of Scout7 systems has not been undermined by this incident.

“Scout7 point out that the security and confidentiality of clients’ databases has always been and remains of the utmost importance and protecting clubs’ private data continues to be an integral feature of our systems.”

About 2,000 employees of different clubs have access to the system, which is regarded as a world leader of its type, with a complex system of passwords for the users.

Ian Ayre was Liverpool’s managing director at the time and is understood to have been involved in handling the complaint by City. There is no suggestion he had any knowledge of any attempts to access City’s scouting database. He stepped down in 2017.

It was reported in March this year that Liverpool were among the clubs that had pushed the Premier League to investigate City for alleged breaches of financial fair play rules after allegations made by the German magazine Der Spiegel. Liverpool’s American owners have previously stated one of the reasons they invested in the club was because of the Premier League’s strong financial regulations.

Der Spiegel cited documents from the Football Leaks cache and alleged City had provided misleading financial information. City have denied any wrongdoing and are challenging an FFP case bought by Uefa in the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
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I don't get that - why would City settle for £1m? It's meaningless to them.

Surely it's a much bigger win to show Victimpool up for the filthy stain they are on the football canvas.
 
Yes, it does suggest they didn't take it too seriously. Perhaps they felt the fact that they didn't change the password when employees entrusted with access to sensitive information left to join a rival organisation reflects badly on them.
 
Sounds like this is some form of cloud based SaaS platform - so I’m guessing City’s highly skilled individuals didn’t change the default passwords. :D

Liverpool’s team of crack black ops, dark web, espionage operates must have used their sophisticated hacking tools.

And typed “admin” followed by “password”....
 
Robbo said:
Illegal, yes, but "hacking"? It just doesn’t match my understanding of that word at all.
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Hacking doesn't actually mean what the public use of it is either! Back when I was more up to date on that stuff, I could access a server I hadn't been given access to as easily (probably easier) than many who had working credentials.

Just because it's easy (and been made so with sloppy admin) it doesn't change what you're actually doing.

Robbing a bank with no guards or locks is still robbing a bank.
 
scaramanga said:
Hacking doesn't actually mean what the public use of it is either! Back when I was more up to date on that stuff, I could access a server I hadn't been given access to as easily (probably easier) than many who had working credentials.

Just because it's easy (and been made so with sloppy admin) it doesn't change what you're actually doing.

Robbing a bank with no guards or locks is still robbing a bank.
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My computer nerding days are long gone, so I can't really claim to know the exact definition of the term, but I guess you’re correct. Could make for an interesting twist in a movie about hackers then, where instead of some guy in a hoodie rapidly typing random DOS commands, you just have the ex employee using his old log in. :D
 
Its hacking, you have moved on and have no rights to access a system you one had the right to do, its hacking and as Scara said the words correct.
 
Robbo said:
My computer nerding days are long gone, so I can't really claim to know the exact definition of the term, but I guess you’re correct. Could make for an interesting twist in a movie about hackers then, where instead of some guy in a hoodie rapidly typing random DOS commands, you just have the ex employee using his old log in. :D
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Most "hacking" is actually social engineering.

Barring incorrectly protected ports or out of date firmware, the odd coding error, etc there are few other ways in. Attacking all of those is the domain of kids and scanners, serious "hackers" are all about convincing people to do something they shouldn't
 
Liverpool FC fail in move to trademark the word ‘Liverpool’

Liverpool FC’s attempt to trademark the word “Liverpool” has been rejected by the government’s Intellectual Property Office due to the “geographical significance” of the city.

The club’s trademark application came to light two months ago, with the club insisting it was purely “in the context of football products and services” and to stop people benefiting from the sale of what they described as “inauthentic products” relating to Jürgen Klopp’s European champions.

Despite the club’s insistence that all revenue from protected services and products using the word would be channelled into reinvestment – namely on transfers and the stadium – the trademark attempt sparked outrage within Liverpool FC’s own fanbase, as well as from outside supporters and observers. Many welcomed the IPO’s decision on Thursday.

In a statement, Liverpool FC said: “The club accepts the decision that has been taken by the Intellectual Property Office, due primarily to what the official judgement cites as ‘the geographical significance’ of Liverpool as a city in comparison to place names that have been trademarked by other football clubs in the UK. We will, however, continue to aggressively pursue those large-scale operations which seek to illegally exploit our intellectual property and would urge the relevant authorities to take decisive action against such criminal activity wherever it exists.”
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Supporters union Spirit of Shankly described the IPO’s rejection of the trademark application as a “victory for common sense.” A statement added: “SOS were clear at the outset that the word ‘Liverpool’ is not for FSG [Fenway Sports Group, Liverpool’s owners] or anybody else to own – it belongs to the city of Liverpool and its people. We should all be allowed to use it freely, however we see fit, without fear of legal letters dropping through our doors.

“LFC have enough legal remedies from their current trademarks to address any issues they may have. Any more is unnecessary.”
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