Guardian Newspaper Suffers A Large Scale Ransomware Attack

The leading London based Guardian newspaper has been hit by a serious ransomware attack on its IT systems, which has shut offices after employees were told there was a serious incident affecting network connectivity at the media group’s King’s Cross headquarters.

The cyber attack has affected parts of the company’s technology infrastructure and so staff have been told to work from home. So far, the newspaper's online publishing is largely unaffected, with stories continuing to be written and published to the Guardian website and app. The company said it was confident it could still produce print newspapers.

News organisations around the world have been regular targets for cyber-attacks both by criminals and nation states, although at this stage the company said it believed the incident was likely to be a ransomware attack. 
These involve hackers gaining access to a computer system then making demands to restore services.

A Report by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), part of the US Treasury, found that the impact of ransomware attacks – measured in Bank Secrecy Act filings – hit $1.2 billion 2021, up 188 percent compared with 2020.

The Guardian Media Group chief executive, Anna Bateson told staff: “As everyone knows, there has been a serious incident which has affected our IT network and systems in the last 24 hours. We believe this to be a ransomware attack but are continuing to consider all possibilities... We are continuing to publish globally to our website and apps and although some of our internal systems are affected, we are confident we will be able to publish in print tomorrow. Our technology teams have been working to deal with all aspects of this incident, with the vast majority of our staff able to work from home as we did during the pandemic.

With a few key exceptions, Guardian employees have been told to work from home for the remainder of the week unless notified otherwise.

Guardian:   Telegraph:      The Register:      US Treasury Dept:     Latestly:      MSN:   

You Might Also Read: 

Cyber Revolution In The Media & Entertainment Industry (£):