The Past July 27, 2025, Barça experienced a critical episode in its digital environment: a Large-magnitude attack to their streaming systems while playing a friendly match in Japan. Although the impact was limited thanks to its rapid response, this incident underlines the urgency of strengthening the cybersecurity in top-tier sports organizations.
Details of the attack on FC Barcelona
What happened?
- The club faced a Massive attack addressed to their streaming platforms during the broadcast of the match on their Asian tour, as officially announced by the club.
- Several sites tried to illegally capture the live signal, causing an avalanche of requests that saturated the systems, activating automatic defense mechanisms that affected the broadcast in the Culers app And the club website.
- As an immediate solution, Barça decided to broadcast the second half live on youtube, thus ensuring that fans could watch the game.
Impact and response
- The impact was tiniest in terms of data security: no risk of impersonation or sensitive breaches were reported.
- The club informed the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) and deployed additional measures to strengthen its digital infrastructure.
- Finally, Barça announced that will reimburse affected users who paid for access to the official broadcast.
Keys to this incident: lessons learned and risks
Lessons for live events and digital platforms
- High exposure in live digital transmissions: These events are vulnerable to botnet attacks and mass scraping.
- Importance of scalable defense mechanisms: firewalls, anti-DDoS and automatic balancing are essential.
- Robust contingency plan: The use of YouTube as an alternative channel prevented a major crisis.
- Transparency and proactive communication with the audience and regulators.
Safety recommendations for sports platforms
✅ Good practices that every club should adopt:
- Anti-DDoS infrastructure and automatic mitigation systems.
- Redundant servers and fallback routes for live streaming.
- Audits and stress tests prior to major events.
- Rapid notification protocols to regulators and the audience in case of incidents.
- Ongoing training of the technical team in digital response and resilience.
Do you manage online events or sports platforms?
In Apolo Cybersecurity we help you design robust, safe and resilient systems:
- Technical and digital infrastructure auditing
- DDoS simulations and resilience tests
- Contingency plans adapted to sporting events
- Regulatory Compliance (GDPR, ENS, NIS2)
👉 Request now your free consulting and receive an initial risk report without obligation:
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