Perhaps the FBI investigation of the St. Louis Cardinals isn't too close to being over. There have been new developments over the past day or so and both reveal more about the Cardinals' role in hacking the Houston Astros' computer database.
First, Astros' general manager Jeff Luhnow addressed aspects of the ongoing investigation. Evidence suggested that Cardinals' officials used a master list of passwords Luhnow left behind before leaving the organization to join the Astros, which is how it was believed they ultimately gained access to Houston's sensitive information.
However, that's not the case, according to Luhnow.
"That's absolutely false," Luhnow told Ben Reiter of Sports Illustrated. "I absolutely know about password hygiene and best practices. I'm certainly aware of how important passwords are, as well as of the importance of keeping them updated. A lot of my job in baseball, as it was in high tech, is to make sure that intellectual property is protected. I take that seriously and hold myself and those who work for me to a very high standard."
It was also said the hack was an act of vengeance against Luhnow because the Cardinals were worried he took their ideas and information with him over to Houston. Luhnow refuted that as well.
"I actually got along very well with everybody with the Cardinals," he added. "I was friendly with the people I left behind there. A lot of them came to my wedding, when I got married in January 2012. The owner, the general manager, the assistant general manager, other executives, scouts were at my wedding. This wasn't a bad breakup. It was a happy promotion of a person to a higher position in another organization."
He also denied taking any intellectual property or other information from St. Louis, which was also speculated to be a motive in the Cardinals' hack. And even if he did, he claims it wouldn't have mattered.
"If you were to take a snapshot of the database of one team, within a month it would not be useful anymore, because things change so quickly. Not to mention that the types of analysis you would do back in 2011, versus 2012 or '13, is evolving so quickly because of new tools like PitchFX and StatCast. I wouldn't trust another team's analysis even if I had it."
With that being said, the alleged Cardinals' hack of the Astros' system occurred in March of 2014 and leaked 10 months of sensitive information. There was also a less significant breach in 2013. However, Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle found that these were not the only hacks orchestrated.
"The Chronicle on Thursday learned that the Cardinals had unauthorized access to Astros information as early as 2012, a year earlier than was previously known," he wrote.
"The extent of the Cardinals' reach inside the Astros' organization isn't yet fully known but was not limited to one or two occasions, a person familiar with the details of the investigation said. The source asked for anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the case. The Chronicle has previously confirmed two breaches into the Astros system - one in 2013 and one in March of 2014. The FBI began its investigation after the 2014 breach."
It's likely the FBI has this information, but this is the first time it's been made public through anonymous sources. The results of the probe are expected soon and at this point it's not looking very good for the Cardinals.
