Cardinals vs. Astros: Information Security Edition
June 16, 2015 9:08 AM   Subscribe

Last summer, ten months worth of the Houston Astros' confidential notes on trades and acquisitions leaked onto the web. The FBI now thinks the St. Louis Cardinals were behind the breach.

This isn't a story about high-tech hacking, though. The explanation is a bit simpler:
The breach involves a database created by Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow, who used to work with the Cardinals and ran a similar database in St. Louis. It appears that Luhnow used the same passwords in both places, leaving the database open to mischief. [emphasis added]
posted by DirtyOldTown (63 comments total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
Yeah, but they hacked the Astros "the right way".
posted by tonycpsu at 9:12 AM on June 16, 2015 [15 favorites]


Heaven forfend, not the Cardinals! *swoons onto fainting couch*
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:15 AM on June 16, 2015 [10 favorites]


You even being in this thread probably counts as eponysterical, Card Cheat.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:18 AM on June 16, 2015 [27 favorites]


Heaven forfend, not the Cardinals! *swoons onto fainting couch*
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:15 PM on June 16 [+] [!]


Eponysterical!

On preview: Damn it, too slow again.
posted by cheapskatebay at 9:20 AM on June 16, 2015 [1 favorite]


Fair play: this amazing scoop belongs to Michael Schmidt at The New York Times.
posted by RogerB at 9:20 AM on June 16, 2015 [1 favorite]


This seems worse than just stealing signs. Knowing the password (or guessing it) does not give one the right to use it anymore than an unlocked front door means you can help yourself to inside the house.
posted by AugustWest at 9:28 AM on June 16, 2015 [2 favorites]


Plain text password storage. Sheesh. Baseball staff are supposed to be nerds these days. Way to lose your moneyball cred.
posted by srboisvert at 9:36 AM on June 16, 2015 [6 favorites]


This seems worse than just stealing signs. Knowing the password (or guessing it) does not give one the right to use it anymore than an unlocked front door means you can help yourself to inside the house.

I'm loving that the Cardinals got caught, but maybe you're not familiar with how sports works?
posted by dry white toast at 9:43 AM on June 16, 2015 [2 favorites]


best hackers in baseball
posted by exogenous at 9:45 AM on June 16, 2015 [2 favorites]


So are the Cards now the Pats of baseball?
posted by maryr at 9:47 AM on June 16, 2015


Nah. They'll do the right thing here.
posted by jeffamaphone at 9:47 AM on June 16, 2015


Which is...?
posted by maryr at 9:48 AM on June 16, 2015


The sky over the stadium was the color of a television tuned to a dead chann- no never mind, the jumbotron is just on the Fritz.
posted by codacorolla at 9:49 AM on June 16, 2015 [11 favorites]


Nah. They'll do the right thing here.

They'll present at a security conference and remind people to have both numbers and non-alphanumeric characters in their password?
posted by maxwelton at 9:49 AM on June 16, 2015 [4 favorites]


It's worse than that, maxwelton. Luhnow didn't simply use passwords that were overly easy for the Cards to guess. He used the same goddamned passwords he used at their office. He used passwords they knew.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:52 AM on June 16, 2015


Whatever the Cardinals do will be, by consensus definition of the baseball commentariat, "the right thing."
posted by RogerB at 9:52 AM on June 16, 2015 [5 favorites]


On one hand, I'm really curious why it feels like the most sanctimonious teams seem to be the ones who get caught doing things like this. On the other hand, I really do not want to read the onslaught of thinkpieces about this topic.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 9:58 AM on June 16, 2015


Yeah, I mean, it's not like the Cards sent a player crawling above an acoustic ceiling to retrieve and replace a suspected, confiscated corked bat from the umpire's dressing room while the game was still being actively being on the field just outside.

Baseball has a long tradition of this sort of thing. That doesn't make it right, but it also means it isn't unusual. This one just has elements that would have been impossible to utilize 100 years ago, although pro teams from that era would have jumped on the same info via the same means if they had the chance to do so.
posted by mosk at 10:13 AM on June 16, 2015 [3 favorites]


This is kind of weird, considering that they're in two different leagues, and until this year, the Astros weren't a threat to a little league team.
posted by Thistledown at 10:14 AM on June 16, 2015


Cardinals fan here, and I have been waiting my whole life for the heel turn from beloved aw-shucks underdogs to the new Yankees. It's about time.
posted by almostmanda at 10:18 AM on June 16, 2015 [11 favorites]


Baseball does have a long history of cheerful cheating in search of competitive advantage. But I'm not quite comfortable calling corporate espionage comparable to sign stealing. I mean, the latter is shady, but the former is an actual crime.

I mean, hell, if we're going to go that far, how far does it go? If someone kidnaps one of Jeff Luhnow's interns and beats him with a tire iron for information, are people going to blithely compare that to Gaylord Perry throwing spitballs?
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:19 AM on June 16, 2015 [3 favorites]


How wonderful if they play each other in the World Series. Go Stros!
posted by jabo at 10:20 AM on June 16, 2015


Now the 15 chapters on Python scripting in Mike Matheny's book make way more sense.
posted by drezdn at 10:21 AM on June 16, 2015 [4 favorites]


This would have never happened if the Astros stored all their valuable info on a Gibson.
posted by drezdn at 10:22 AM on June 16, 2015


This is kind of weird, considering that they're in two different leagues, and until this year, the Astros weren't a threat to a little league team.

To me, this is like a burglar breaking into a house with an unlocked window: It's not necessarily because it has the best loot, it's because it's easy. Anybody want to buy Luhnow a copy of 1Password?
posted by Cash4Lead at 10:23 AM on June 16, 2015


Luhnow used to work for the Cardinals. Supposedly the Cardinals were trying to figure out if he was using proprietary something or other.
posted by drezdn at 10:24 AM on June 16, 2015


This is kind of weird, considering that they're in two different leagues, and until this year, the Astros weren't a threat to a little league team.

The Astros have been trying to rebuild their team by putting a lot of resources into amateur and minor league scouting. Getting into their data isn't about getting the inside scoop about their current lineup as it would be about getting extra, free scouting on the young players the Cardinals might draft or trade for in the future.
posted by thecjm at 10:26 AM on June 16, 2015 [2 favorites]


I am really glad Obama's FBI is devoting so much time and effort cracking down on corruption in sports and not wasting time with Wall Street, but it does sort of confuse me. I thought Obama was a sports fan.
posted by three blind mice at 10:31 AM on June 16, 2015 [2 favorites]


I want someone to photoshop a camera into the Cardinal's logo's eye.
posted by drezdn at 10:32 AM on June 16, 2015


This is an actual violation of the law. Stealing signs is part of the game. Some things done are violations of league rules, the league can punish you, but the law just doesn't care about it. But when you're illegally accessing another company's systems, even when you have the access credentials, that's when the Feds get involved.

And now the league is also involved, because now you're wondering how much tampering was involved in draft selection, trades, potential player notes, etc. There's two factors. The Astros have been rebuilding, so you could be getting info on prospects, and you could be trying to intercept those prospects, which limits the ability of the Astros to rebuild as it reinforces your own farm system.

This is, if it plays out like it appears to be playing out, a big deal.
posted by eriko at 10:35 AM on June 16, 2015 [5 favorites]


Cardinals be all up in your bases, swipin'. It's like they signed on 21st century versions of Whitey Herzog and Vince Coleman.


Cardinals fan here, and I have been waiting my whole life for the heel turn from beloved aw-shucks underdogs to the new Yankees. It's about time.
posted by almostmanda at 10:18 AM on June 16


I feel the exact same way.
posted by Groundhog Week at 10:44 AM on June 16, 2015


IS NOTHING SECULAR SACRED ANYMORE?
posted by srboisvert at 10:50 AM on June 16, 2015 [4 favorites]


Oh, my mother is a life long Cardinals fan. Currently lives in the STL. I am a life long Cubs fan, as was dad. (Mixed marriage, natch.) Currently I live in Chicago, not very far at all from Elwood Blues' address of record as a matter of fact.

I am trying to be a good son, really, I am.

But the thought of "Well, ma, you always said "Trust everybody, but cut the Cards" is oh so tempting right now.
posted by eriko at 10:58 AM on June 16, 2015 [3 favorites]


How wonderful if they play each other in the World Series. Go Stros!

Actually, no, I want Cubs-Astros. Because I want the teams that, two years ago, lost over 100 games each to be in the World Series. Because talk about worst-to-first.

And unlike most of those dreams, it's not inconceivable this year.

But yeah, if it's Cards-Astros, I really, really, REALLY, would love it if the Astros beaned the first batter. Because TRADITION.
posted by eriko at 11:02 AM on June 16, 2015 [3 favorites]


As a St. Louisan who's not exactly into baseball (yes I know SHUN THE UNBELIEVER and all that) I find this mildly amusing.

It would have been totally hilarious if it was the Cubs rather than the Astros though.
posted by Foosnark at 11:06 AM on June 16, 2015 [1 favorite]


This is actually only my second-favorite embarrassing Cardinals news story. I greatly enjoyed last year when it was found that Carlos Martinez's Twitter favorites were basically a giant wall of porn.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:18 AM on June 16, 2015 [6 favorites]


As a Reds fan, I'm really enjoying this and hoping that severe sanctions occur.
posted by cooker girl at 11:19 AM on June 16, 2015 [1 favorite]


But yeah, if it's Cards-Astros, I really, really, REALLY, would love it if the Astros beaned the first batter. Because TRADITION.

How about they start a new tradition and bean an executive?
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:31 AM on June 16, 2015 [2 favorites]




How about they start a new tradition and bean an executive?

SOLD!
posted by eriko at 11:51 AM on June 16, 2015


Cardinals fan here, and I have been waiting my whole life for the heel turn from beloved aw-shucks underdogs to the new Yankees. It's about time.
posted by almostmanda at 12:18 PM on June 16


This is a "best fans in baseball moment" I can completely get behind; own the darkness!

(I am not joking.)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:56 AM on June 16, 2015 [1 favorite]


Cardinals fan here, and I have been waiting my whole life for the heel turn from beloved aw-shucks underdogs to the new Yankees. It's about time.

Those of us from the North Side of Chicago have been viewing you as the new Yankees for a few years now, really.

I remember this hit the spot back a few years....Deadspin "Why Your Cardinals Suck
posted by C.A.S. at 12:16 PM on June 16, 2015 [1 favorite]


It would have been totally hilarious if it was the Cubs rather than the Astros though.


Yeah, it's all fun and games until a bloody civil war divides Illinois at about Interstate-74 or so.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:24 PM on June 16, 2015 [4 favorites]


This piece from Grantland was passed around in my circles.
posted by almostmanda at 12:25 PM on June 16, 2015 [2 favorites]


Kudos to the author of this Deadspin comment for my favorite take on the story so far:
From a business standpoint, the handbook defines the organizational philosophy, a philosophy that places a greater emphasis on misappropriating digital scouting records and player transaction information from opposing teams than on generating home grown data from within the Cardinals organization. It’s the Cardinal Way.
posted by tonycpsu at 12:33 PM on June 16, 2015 [1 favorite]


Even though I'm a Cardinals fan with all the soft-focus Ken Burnsy posters-of-Ozzie-Smith-in-my-childhood-bedroom crap that goes along with that, I do have to appreciate the insane level of schadenfreude going on with this story. It really couldn't be better.
posted by evisceratordeath at 12:41 PM on June 16, 2015 [3 favorites]


As a Pirates fan I'm hoping we finally gain a game or two in the division because of this.

I am really glad Obama's FBI is devoting so much time and effort cracking down on corruption in sports and not wasting time with Wall Street, but it does sort of confuse me. I thought Obama was a sports fan.

Well, the important thing is you found a way to blame Obama for something.
posted by dirigibleman at 1:05 PM on June 16, 2015 [8 favorites]


I, for one, welcome the Cyberpunk Era of baseball. Soon the Cardinals will be sending out nano machines to tie the catchers laces together and hotfoot the umpire. William Gibson's number will be retired next Bob Gibson's in Busch Stadium, and a Bud will cost you 4000 New Yen. It'll be glorious.

Is a Cardinals fan that can't even be mad because this is just too funny to me.
posted by gc at 1:42 PM on June 16, 2015 [1 favorite]


Did you know? There are two categories of sports: baseball and "other."
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:56 PM on June 16, 2015 [2 favorites]


posters-of-Ozzie-Smith-in-my-childhood-bedroom

Can't favorite that hard enough.
posted by asperity at 1:56 PM on June 16, 2015


If they said why or how the hackers leaked the documents I missed it. Somebody who dislikes Lunoh so much they committed a career-limiting felony to embarrass him? That would seem to be unbelievably stupid but I cannot imagine any other motive.
posted by bukvich at 2:00 PM on June 16, 2015


Mod note: A few comments deleted. If you don't like baseball, and don't find this subject interesting, go ahead and pass the thread by. Thanks.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 3:14 PM on June 16, 2015 [5 favorites]


As someone who's followed the Cardinals for many years - though I'm hesitant to call myself a "fan" of those now running the club - I must point out that there's a significant "before and after" in play here.

The Cardinals and their fans earned, and mostly deserved, their good-guy reputation years ago when the team was owned by Anheuser-Busch. AB did use the team to sell a lot of mediocre beer, but they mostly let the baseball people do their thing, and had pretty good runs on the field in the 1960s and again in the 1980s.

Since 1996, the team has been owned by a group of 1 percenter greedheads, fronted by a major fundraiser for George W. Bush, and they currently are managed by a humorless Jesus-freak. With people of such dubious character in charge, I am not at all surprised that they'd try to cheat.

If the charges stick, no doubt they'll find some no-name, low-level peon to take the fall, while everyone else skates. But in the meantime, I'm really hoping some reporter asks Mike Matheny how industrial espionage comports with his evangelical Christian "values."
posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 3:44 PM on June 16, 2015 [8 favorites]


I feel like it was some young low-level employees after a couple too many beers and they were like,

¨Dude, what do you want to bet Luhnow didn't even change the passwords when he moved to Houston?¨

¨Dude, let's check!¨
posted by saul wright at 4:09 PM on June 16, 2015


With people of such dubious character in charge, I am not at all surprised that they'd try to cheat.

If Budweiser still owned the team do you think La Russa could have hired McGwire to be the hitting coach with that thin non-apology for pumping up on PED's and making a mockery of Roger Maris' single season home run record?
posted by bukvich at 7:26 PM on June 16, 2015


If Budweiser still owned the team do you think La Russa could have hired McGwire to be the hitting coach with that thin non-apology for pumping up on PED's and making a mockery of Roger Maris' single season home run record?

Hard to say. On the one hand, you'd think that AB being a publicly traded company in the business of selling intoxicating beverages would have made them more sensitive to any potential negative publicity from hiring a known drug user.

On the other hand, McGwire pretty much got a pass on the whole PED issue from Cardinal fans and local media anyway, so it may not have made any difference at all.
posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 7:54 PM on June 16, 2015


Bill Plaschke thinks it's now time to ask whether the Cardinals hacked the 2013 and 2014 playoffs …or something? Even by Plaschke's usual "trying to singlehandedly bring back Fire Joe Morgan" standards this one's pretty incoherent.
posted by RogerB at 8:41 PM on June 16, 2015


I'm trying to think of punishments.

1) Cardinals only get two strikes next season.
2) Or six balls for a walk.
3) Homerun? Nope, only a ground rule double!
4) Fredbird has to play shortstop.
5) Every inning, three random numbers between 1-8 are drawn, those position players have to do shots.
6) Between every half inning at home games, Cardinals fans have to sing "God Bless America."
7) Between every half inning at home games, Cardinals fans have to sing "Go Cubs Go."
8) No Beer at Busch Stadium
9) Cardinal on jersey replaced by jailbird.
10) Cardinals banned from postseason until the Blues win the Stanley Cup.
posted by eriko at 6:06 AM on June 17, 2015 [1 favorite]




All your bases are belong to us.
posted by kirkaracha at 8:40 AM on June 17, 2015 [1 favorite]


11) Mandatory Alex Rodriguez signing
12) All beer at Busch Stadium replaced with Bud Lite Lime-A-Rita
13) When the Cardinals are on offense all players wear oversized foam batting helmets
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:14 AM on June 17, 2015 [1 favorite]


14) Jack Warner made Cardinals GM.
posted by eriko at 9:58 AM on June 17, 2015




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