la times malware cyber attack

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A suspected foreign cyber attack disrupted U.S. newsrooms

The holidays are an 'optimal' time for such attacks, a researcher told the L.A. Times.

 

Samira Sadeque

Tech

Posted on Dec 30, 2018   Updated on May 20, 2021, 10:31 pm CDT

A malware attack that reportedly has foreign roots affected numerous newsrooms in the U.S. at the end of last week, primarily affecting West Coast outlets.

The attack first appeared as a server outage Thursday, the Los Angeles Times reported on Saturday. The problem appeared to have been contained by Friday, but the malware made a resurgence.

Its full effects were felt on Saturday when the distribution of Times and the San Diego Union-Tribune were affected. The West Coast editions of the Wall Street Journal and New York Times were delayed, and the New York Daily News, the Chicago Tribune and papers in Florida, Hartford, Connecticut, and Maryland were affected as well.

Officials say they are not yet able to determine whether the foreign source that attacked the distribution was a foreign state or a private entity, according to the Times.  

The motive behind the attack is yet to be determined, and the New York Times said Tribune did not provide further details about the malware or state why it believes the malware was foreign in origin.

“We believe the intention of the attack was to disable infrastructure, more specifically servers, as opposed to looking to steal information,” an anonymous source told the L.A. Times. Tribune Publishing told the Times that none of its users’ data or subscriber information had been compromised. 

Tribune Publishing, which until recently owned the Times and the San Diego Union-Tribune, said in a statement that all its publications were affected by the malware. The New York Times and Wall Street Journal in the West Coast are printed by the same printing press as the L.A. Times, the Olympic printing plant.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement to the newspaper that they are aware of the reports, and are “working with our government and industry partners to better understand the situation.”

A researcher from World Privacy Forum told the newspaper that the holidays are an “optimal” time for such attacks because organizations are thinly staffed.

H/T Los Angeles Times

 

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*First Published: Dec 30, 2018, 6:46 pm CST