In 2014, the Houston Astros database was hacked and approximately 10 months of trade information was leaked. At first, many believed it was a ‘rogue hacker’, but after further investigation, it was discovered that the man who did the hacking was Chris Correa, the former Saint Louis Cardinals scouting director. In fact, after the investigation was opened, FBI agents soon found out that the Astros’ network had been entered from a computer at a home that some Cardinals’ officials had lived in during the Saint Louis Spring training. It was then, that the agents turned their attention towards the team’s front office (Source VI). This alleged hacking scandal is a huge breach of privacy by Chris Correa.…show more content… In 2012, he was promoted to manager of Baseball Development and also named Director of the department in 2013. Correa and Luhnow worked together for the Cardinals for several years. When Luhnow left the Cardinals for the Astros, Correa and others in the Cardinals organization wondered whether Luhnow might have brought any of the Cardinals proprietary information with him to the Astros. After Luhnow’s departure for Houston, Correa had access to a laptop that was left behind. Through the use of Luhnow’s password, Correa was able to “go behind enemy cyber-lines” and access draft information, scouting reports, emails, and signing bonus data (Source I) from the Houston Astros database. Several witnesses claimed that Luhnow neglected to change his passwords when he moved to the Astros organization. This is how Correa was able to infiltrate the system. Luhnow claims that the accusation that he neglected to change his password is false. If he did fail to change the passwords, it would violate Principle 7.06 of the Ethics Code, stating “Assist colleagues in being fully aware of current standard work practices including policies and procedures for protecting passwords, files and other confidential information, and security measures in general.” If Luhnow did, in fact, keep the same passwords, he could be responsible for this ‘hacking’. Even so, Correa’s actions are still not justified. But it is…show more content… During the hearing, additional information came to light about the ‘hacking’. It just so happened that Correa was in fact “looking for stolen proprietary information” during the draft and at the Trade deadline. This seems too “scheduled” to be a coincidence, and it seems that this invasion of privacy was designed to access information and gain an edge over other teams during the draft/trade deadline. Correa is likely to face time in prison along with significant fines for his actions. “During the trial, Correa told the court that he did, in fact, find proprietary Cardinals information when searching, which could problematic for the Astros in the future (they have denied it). Either way, it is not relevant to the proceedings against Correa (it is still illegal to hack into someone else’s systems to see if they stole from you)” (Source IV). One of the main questions that arose from this entire scandal was whether or not Correa worked alone or if he was directed to carry out these breaches. In court, when asked whom he told, he responded, “Colleagues”. He went on to confirm that these colleagues were in the Saint Louis Cardinals organization and that these employees were aware of the hack, and did absolutely nothing to stop/prevent the crime (Source III). This violates several
