Catapult, a company that provides video storage to college football programs and other organizations, said it supports an ongoing investigation with the NCAA and local authorities after players from Alabama and Michigan said they were aware of security concerns related to the platform.
“We are aware of the ongoing investigation regarding alleged unauthorized access to NCAA football video footage,” a Catapult spokesperson said in a statement. “We conducted an internal investigation and did not find any security breach in our systems. We have shared this with local authorities who are investigating.”
The company did not specify which local authorities were investigating or which schools were involved. A Michigan spokesman said the school shut down its cloud storage system in early November amid concerns it had been targeted in a potential hack. Players can access the film from Michigan's servers while inside university facilities but are not given access to watch it remotely on tablets or other devices.
“We watched it internally and dealt with it that way,” Michigan offensive coordinator Sherwin Moore said. “It was something we decided from our own perspective. People heard some things and we wanted to make sure we were safe from our side.
Concerns about the Catapult platform became public Thursday when Alabama players said they were only watching the film at group meetings in preparation for Monday's Rose Bowl game against Michigan. This isn't the first time teams have taken extra precautions before a game against Michigan, but concerns about practice film security are a separate issue from the sign-stealing allegations involving former Michigan employee Connor Stallions, who allegedly compiled video footage of other people. Team signals are sounded from the stands during matches.
The law enforcement agency investigating the potential violation has not been identified. The University of Michigan Police Department, which is cooperating with the FBI to investigate possible computer access crimes involving former Michigan offensive coordinator Matt Weiss, said it “is not involved in any investigation related to unauthorized access to NCAA football video footage.” Universities that originated from the state of Michigan. Football program.”
Michigan quarterback JJ McCarthy didn't blame Alabama for taking extra precautions and said Michigan is doing the same.
“It makes sense with everything that's going on and the society we live in today,” McCarthy said. “Like them, we didn't watch movies on the iPads the whole month of November because of everything that happened. We're just making sure we get that time in the facility, that time to watch film and dissect who we're playing.”
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