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Well this is new.
As we approach the Big Ten season we just had a disciplinary issue involving...referees? Yep, according to ESPN a number of college basketball referees were disciplined for accessing "unauthorized information on a refereeing website" per ESPN.
Apparently an officiating website (BlueZebraSports) had it's log-in information compromised and the information was passed along to a number of refs, included one ref who commonly calls games in the Big Ten. Bo Boroski, an official who worked the NCAA Tournament and Big Ten Tournament semifinals last season was implicated in the scandal, leading him to not working any game assignments in the league this season.
While most of the refs implicated here have claimed no ill intent, the access a number of them obtained would allow them to possibly see things such as game schedules and, more importantly, compensation of other officials. I know it sounds somewhat petty, but there's a reason employers like to keep said information private and if the refs were caught accessing that information when they weren't supposed to, that'd be a relatively major no no.
The situation led to the Collegiate Officiating Consortium to issue a statement on the matter:
The Collegiate Officiating Consortium (COC) was informed last week that the basketball officiating website utilized by the consortium and administered by a vendor was compromised by individuals affiliated with the consortium to gain unauthorized access to restricted areas.
The COC is an officiating consortium comprised of the Big Ten Conference, Mid-American Conference, Summit League and Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference in men's basketball and a consortium consisting of the Big Ten, Mid-American, Summit, Big 12 Conference, Conference USA, Horizon League, Missouri Valley Conference and Great Lakes Valley Conference in women's basketball.
The conferences and schools have been notified of the security breach, the access issues have been corrected by the vendor and disciplinary action has been taken by the consortium against the individuals involved. The integrity of the officiating program is paramount, and we appreciate the cooperation of all involved throughout the process.