NCAA looking into possible unauthorized access to college football video, tech company says
A software company that manages video footage for college football teams said Friday the NCAA is looking into possible unauthorized access to its data.
Players and coaches for fourth-seeded Alabama and No. 1 Michigan have indicated in the lead up to their Rose Bowl matchup on Monday that players had been instructed to avoid watching film using the Catapult Sports app on their mobile devices because of security concerns.
"Just told our kids, I think it was early November, 'Hey, we're not watching stuff on the iPads anymore. Watch it in-house and handle it that way,'" Michigan offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore said this week.
Catapult said in a statement it was aware of the ongoing investigation of alleged unauthorized access to college football video footage.
"We have conducted an internal investigation and have not found any security breach in our systems," Catapult said. "We have shared this with local authorities that are conducting an investigation. We will continue to support the ongoing investigation with the NCAA and local authorities."
Football programs use Catapult's software to manage and sort video from games and practices that coaches share with players.
Michigan is being investigated by the NCAA for an alleged in-person scouting and sign-stealing scheme, but a Michigan spokesperson said the program has not been notified that is under any scrutiny for potential issues with Catapult video being accessed without proper authorization.
The Big Ten penalized Michigan for violating its sportsmanship policy by suspending coach Jim Harbaugh for the final three games of the regular season.