Colin Kaepernick was among 1,133 players and agents whose personal information was exposed due to a misconfigured online database operated by the NFL Players Association, according to an internet security company.
Kaepernick, who was the target of death threats last year as he knelt during the national anthem to call attention to racial inequality, had information such as his home address and cell phone number compromised. Kaepernick is currently a free agent.
Forbes was the first to report the breach.
The Kromtech Security Center wrote on its website that “anybody with Internet connection could have accessed the database,” which the Germany-based firm said apparently had been seized upon by cyber criminals as part of a ransomware attack. Somebody left a message on the compromised NFLPA database in February asking for .01 BitCoin (about $427).
“IF PAYMENT IS NOT MADE WITHIN 120 HOURS WE WILL LEAK THE DATABASE TO PUBLIC,” the message uncovered by Kromtech read.
Nobody had paid the ransomware demand as of this week.
The NFLPA did not immediately return messages left by USA TODAY Sports on Tuesday.
