As sports fans around the globe knuckled down to watch the World Cup semifinals between England and Croatia on Wednesday, a digital streaming service called FuboTV went offline – just when viewers least expected it.
With users unable to watch the matches, FuboTV blamed a “criminal cyber attack” for the disruption and “temporarily blocking” its services.
FuboTV, a premier online streaming service for sports, provides subscribers with live and on-demand content. Viewers can also buy sports packages to suit their tastes.
The service had been responsible for the delivery of the World Cup content, but this time it had other plans.
Following the loud outcry by its customers on social media, FuboTV announced on its website that an attack was identified and they had addressed the issue. The message read, “The unauthorized party was able to shut down service across multiple cloud service providers and regions, which impacted our platform and left customers unable to watch live streaming footage.”
The website later posted a note saying that the streaming service had returned to normal, but the damage had already been done. Subscribers felt let down, considering the important match had been marred by the technical difficulties.
FuboTV responded by giving its subscribers the chance to watch the match for free, and even offered a 1-month extension to their subscriptions. Despite this, many continued to express their dissatisfaction with the incident, as the company was unable to deliver the content promised to them.
It seems that this “criminal cyber attack,” as it has been labeled, has done some serious damage to FuboTV’s reputation and their ability to provide a consistent streaming service. This goes to show that companies must put in place better security measures in order to protect their customers and services.