RA says software glitch to blame for SNS issue, rules out cybersecurity breach

Racing Australia has dismissed a cyber attack as the cause of a recent Single National System (SNS) outage, saying neither a security breach nor an external system overload triggered the disruption. 

RA had what it described as a “slow down” on its SNS system on May 25, which performs many of the industry’s key functions, including licensing, ownership/horse registration, stakes payments, the studbook, and raceday data.

Users reported being unable to access parts of Racing Australia during this time, including the SNS, which handles tasks such as nominations for Saturday feature meetings, usually taken on Mondays.   

But while there have been suggestions that SNS may have been impacted by a third-party overload of its servers, RA chief executive Paul Eriksson confirmed to The Straight that it was a software failure on one of the external web servers.

“It was not caused by any external system load,” he said.

Eriksson denied there was any security breach but did not elaborate any further on the precise cause.

“Racing Australia, as all businesses with online systems, has cybersecurity systems in place to identify and manage inappropriate usage,” he said.

“Racing Australia continues to improve these cybersecurity systems.”

The Australian racing industry’s reliance on SNS has been identified by some as a potential weakness. While it consolidates many core technology platforms onto one system, that creates a central vulnerability should there be an issue.

Meanwhile, Racing Australia is on the brink of announcing a technology partner to collaborate in the development of a new SNS.

In the recently released RA annual report for 2024/25, Eriksson said there was a renewed focus on “the modernisation and rebuild of the systems supporting the operation of the Thoroughbred Racing Industry”.

“Racing Australia has searched for a development partner to collaborate in the development of a new system covering Stud Book, registration and all racing systems. We anticipate making an announcement on the selection of a partner by June 2026,” he said.

“The next 12 months will see the continuation of work on the new SNS design, specifically the Australian Stud Book and Register of Racehorses, that utilises a single view of the horse from registration through to retirement.”

It is also understood that Racing Australia has recently undertaken an external cybersecurity review with Trusted Impact.

Exactly what purpose a theoretical cyberattack would serve on the SNS is uncertain, although at the very least, it could disrupt the administration of the industry.

A successful hack could also, in theory, access data on nominations, acceptances, jockey bookings, and scratchings, which could provide an advantage to those seeking to access information before it is disseminated to the wider public.