The Guardian, latest ransomware victim? The British daily raises this possibility after the occurrence in recent hours of a cyberattack targeting its computer system and networks.
A nocturnal hack
The newspaper refers to a “incident” which began late at night from December 20 to 21. An ideal time slot for hackers, who often take advantage of the absence of personnel and administrators to better infiltrate systems. Part of the networks and computers of the company are affected by this attack.The publication of the articles on the website would not have been affected.
As for the paper newspaper, the editorial staff declared themselves confident about the release of the day’s copy. “We suspect this is a ransomware attack, but we continue to consider all possibilities. Our technology teams have been working to manage all aspects of this incident, with the vast majority of our staff able to work from home, as we have done during the pandemic“, said the Guardian in a press release.
Back to telework
Pending the full return to service of the system, the newspaper’s employees are asked to work from home until the end of the week. A note addressed to the employees of the company relayed by the FinancialTimes thus asked to work remotely for “minimize disruption.” “Do not come to work in our offices, unless you are specifically asked to do so“, further specified the email.
At the same time, employees are asked not to use the company’s VPN. The wifi within the premises as well as the internal digital and financial tools would have been impacted by the cyberattack.
The Guardian is now one of the most visited news sites in the world with more than 390 million visits in November, according to the Press Gazette. For several years, the media have been among the favorite targets of hackers alongside administrations, hospitals and large companies. Hackers often take advantage of simple uncorrected flaws in systems or the credulity of certain employees to break into networks.
“News organizations have become a regular target of cyberattacks this year, and these attacks often have even more damaging effects for the companies targeted. Ransomware can often cripple all departments, so it is fortunate that despite this attack, the organization sees some key departments operating as usual.“, analyzes for his part Jake Moore, global cybersecurity adviser at ESET quoted by the BBC.