Major League Baseball’s St. Louis Cardinals Accused Of Hacking Houston Astros Player Database

By Kareem Chehayeb | Jul 06, 2015
Matt Trommer / Shutterstock.com

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

You're reading Entrepreneur Middle East, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.

This story takes sports scandals to a whole new level. The New York Times broke the news on June 16 that Justice Department prosecutors and the FBI have been investigating the St. Louis Cardinals staff on accusations that they have hacked the player database of their rival Major League Baseball (MLB) team, the Houston Astros. Why would one of baseball’s biggest teams do something so reckless and absurd? Law enforcement figures say this was done by Cardinals personnel to “wreak havoc” on the work of Houston Astros’ general manager Jeff Lehnow, who was previously the Cardinals scout between 2003 and 2011. According to the report, the hack was made possible by Cardinals personnel making use a master list of passwords used by Luhnow and other officials during their time at Cardinals to breach the Astros database. So what’s the lesson in this for the rest of us? As security experts have often told us: we simply shouldn’t use the same passwords across different sites and services.

This story takes sports scandals to a whole new level. The New York Times broke the news on June 16 that Justice Department prosecutors and the FBI have been investigating the St. Louis Cardinals staff on accusations that they have hacked the player database of their rival Major League Baseball (MLB) team, the Houston Astros. Why would one of baseball’s biggest teams do something so reckless and absurd? Law enforcement figures say this was done by Cardinals personnel to “wreak havoc” on the work of Houston Astros’ general manager Jeff Lehnow, who was previously the Cardinals scout between 2003 and 2011. According to the report, the hack was made possible by Cardinals personnel making use a master list of passwords used by Luhnow and other officials during their time at Cardinals to breach the Astros database. So what’s the lesson in this for the rest of us? As security experts have often told us: we simply shouldn’t use the same passwords across different sites and services.

Kareem Chehayeb

Former Columnist & Online Liaison, Entrepreneur Middle East

Related Content

Business News

Bayut Hosts 2025 Bayut Awards in Dubai

The annual Bayut Awards recognized performance across the UAE real estate sector at an industry gathering held at Atlantis The Royal. Bayut hosted the Bayut Awards 2025 at Atlantis The Royal, bringing together real estate agencies, industry professionals, and stakeholders from across the UAE. The awards night, themed “Reflections of Your Success”, honored individuals and […]
Business News

1004 Gourmet’s Changsup Shin and Lamise Beauty’s Kate Park on the Responsibility of Representing South Korea Through Business

The husband-and-wife duo have built two well-established, UAE-born Korean brands. But as they operate in a world increasingly influenced by K-culture trends, they reflect on the added weight that comes with being flagbearers of their homeland across two major industries (and why simply branding something as “Korean” can sometimes do more harm than good).
Business News

STEP Conference 2026 Brings an AI-First Agenda to Dubai

The 14th edition of STEP Conference is taking place on February 11–12, 2026, at Dubai Internet City, unveiling a fully AI-dedicated program aligned with the UAE’s National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031. STEP Conference 2026 will return to Dubai on February 11–12, 2026, with a fully artificial intelligence–focused agenda. Held at Dubai Internet City in […]
Business News

Why Speed, Not Persuasion, Is the Real Problem in Real Estate Sales

For decades, real estate sales teams have been trained to focus on persuasion.Better scripts, stronger follow-ups, more refined closing techniques. Yet most deals do not fail because a sales executive lacks persuasion skills. They fail much earlier, often without anyone noticing. Buyers lose momentum simply because they did not receive the information they needed at […]