Russian state hackers attacked the computer networks of at least 16 national and international sports and antidoping organizations, Microsoft said Monday. The attacks are the latest in a series of brazen Russian cyberattacks on foreign politicians, sporting officials and antidoping regulators.

The attacks were timed as the World Anti-Doping Agency deals with the continued fallout from the 2015 Russian doping scandal, which snowballed in recent months after WADA officials discovered that Russian athletes’ failed drug tests had been erased from a critical data set.

According to Microsoft, which helps protect some of the agencies from cyberattacks, the Russian attacks began Sept. 16, just days before WADA announced Russia might face further punishment for inconsistencies in its drug testing data. Microsoft did not name victims of the cyberattacks, but confirmed that some of the Russian attacks were successful.

The company traced the attacks to a group of notorious Russian state-backed hackers known by the alias Fancy Bear. The group is one of two Russian government groups responsible for the 2016 hack of the Democratic National Committee, as well as previous cyberattacks on sports and antidoping officials between 2014 and 2018. The attacks resulted in the 2018 indictment of seven Russian intelligence officers accused of hacking sports and antidoping officials, as well as spreading personal emails belonging to antidoping officials and the private medical records of Western athletes. The hacks occurred amid mounting criticism of Russia for its yearslong, state-sponsored doping program.