Initial Reports Say American Newspapers Are Under Cyberattack By Foreign Entity, And Is Preventing Distribution
“#BREAKING: Initial reports that a cyberattack from a “foreign entity’ has hit newspapers across the United States, preventing distribution of well-known papers such as the @latimes & multiple others, source says- LA Times”
#BREAKING: Initial reports that a cyberattack from a “foreign entity’ has hit newspapers across the United States, preventing distribution of well-known papers such as the @latimes & multiple others, source says- LA Times
— ELINT News (@ELINTNews) December 30, 2018
JUST IN: A suspected malware computer virus from outside the United States prevented the Los Angeles Times from publishing many of its Saturday print editions, in an attack that similarly crippled other newspapers across the country, the Times said. t.co/mwYBtQUWse
— CBS Los Angeles (@CBSLA) December 30, 2018
Computer virus hits Tribune Publishing, Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A computer virus hit newspaper printing plants in Los Angeles and at Tribune Publishing newspapers across the country.
Tribune Publishing said a computer virus disrupted production of the Chicago Tribune and its other newspapers, the Chicago Tribune reported.
The print edition of the Chicago Tribune was published Saturday without paid death notices and classified ads, while in other markets a similarly slimmed-down version of the Saturday newspaper will be delivered on Sunday, the company said.
“This issue has affected the timeliness and in some cases the completeness of our printed newspapers. Our websites and mobile applications however, have not been impacted,” Tribune Publishing spokeswoman Marisa Kollias said in a statement.
Malware attack disrupts delivery of L.A. Times and Tribune papers across the U.S.
What first arose as a server outage was identified Saturday as a malware attack, which appears to have originated from outside the United States and hobbled computer systems and delayed weekend deliveries of the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers across the country.
Technology teams worked feverishly to quarantine the computer virus, but it spread through Tribune Publishing’s network and reinfected systems crucial to the news production and printing process. Multiple newspapers around the country were affected because they share a production platform.
The attack delayed distribution of Saturday editions of the Los Angeles Times and San Diego Union Tribune. It also stymied distribution of the West Coast editions of the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, which are printed at the Los Angeles Times’ Olympic printing plant in downtown Los Angeles.
By Saturday afternoon, the company suspected the cyberattack originated from outside the United States, but officials said it was too soon to say whether it was carried out by a foreign state or some other entity, said a source with knowledge of the situation.
Cyberattack by Foreign Entity Halts Deliveries of Los Angeles Times, Other Newspapers
The Los Angeles Times, which runs the facility, says the computer virus infected systems that are associated with the printing process. The Times reported that the issue stemmed from a cyberattack by an unknown “foreign entity.”
h/t Panda bear