Belgian table tennis, gymnastics federations hit by cyberattacks

Belgium’s national table tennis federation and its French-speaking branch are investigating a cyberattack after a hacker claimed to have stolen data on tens of thousands of members and users.

Jean-Michel Mureau, president of the French-speaking Association Francophone de Tennis de Table (AFTT), confirmed the attack over the weekend and said the Royal Belgian Table Tennis Federation (FRBTT) had also been affected.

“I can confirm that there was indeed an attack,” Mureau said in a statement. “We have tasked our IT department with investigating to determine exactly what data was compromised.”

The federation was alerted to the incident on Thursday and asked its IT provider to investigate the extent of the breach, according to Mureau.

In a statement Monday, the AFTT said it was taking the incident “very seriously” and had carried out checks of its own systems as well as those of the service provider responsible for its website.

“At this stage, the checks carried out have not revealed any evidence to suggest that its infrastructure has been compromised,” the organization said.

The AFTT said it had also strengthened security measures on its own systems as a precaution. So far, it has found no evidence that information such as members’ phone numbers or email addresses was accessed or stolen, although the investigation is ongoing.

The incident was first reported last week by FrenchBreaches, a website that tracks data leaks and cyberattacks. According to the site, samples purportedly posted by the attacker included names, membership numbers, information about members and users, and records related to sporting sanctions.

A hacker using the handle Venus1337 claimed responsibility for the attack and posted samples of the purportedly stolen information online. The attacker claimed to have obtained nearly 1.7 gigabytes of data, including records linked to more than 66,800 members and 17,400 users, as well as administrative accounts belonging to clubs.

Those claims have not been independently verified, and the federation has not confirmed that the volume or categories of data described by the hacker were stolen.

The AFTT said it would notify affected individuals and take other required steps if its investigation determines that personal data was compromised.

A wider breach

Venus1337 also claimed responsibility for a separate breach involving Belgium’s French-speaking Gymnastics Federation, or FfG, just days earlier.

The gymnastics federation subsequently confirmed that unauthorized individuals had accessed part of its IT environment and extracted data.

“As soon as the incident was discovered, we called in experts,” the FfG said Thursday. “The access route used was neutralized, the affected access points were secured, and our systems are now subject to enhanced monitoring.”

The organization said it had also notified Belgian cybersecurity and data protection authorities.

Potentially affected information includes names, email and postal addresses, phone numbers, details related to coaching qualifications and judges’ licenses, and information contained in accident reports, according to the federation.

The FfG warned the information could potentially be used for impersonation or attempts to obtain additional personal data. It said it had not observed any misuse of the information so far.

Venus1337 claimed to have obtained information concerning more than 200,000 members in that breach. The federation has confirmed that personal data was affected but has not publicly verified the hacker’s figure. The Belgian incidents come amid broader cyber threats facing sports organizations in neighboring France.

Since late 2025, more than 30 French sports organizations have reportedly been affected by cyberattacks or data breaches, including federations overseeing tennis, skiing, swimming, sailing, golf, football and shooting.

There is no evidence that those incidents were connected to the attacks in Belgium.

Earlier this month, French authorities detained an 18-year-old suspected member of the ZeroBytes hacking group, which previously claimed responsibility for the breach of the French Handball Federation.

In a separate investigation earlier this year, French police arrested a 20-year-old suspected of carrying out dozens of breaches, including attacks involving national federations for sailing, athletics, motorsports, gymnastics, skiing, rugby league, aikido, university sports, mountaineering and climbing, and para-sports.