Newspaper publishing giant Lee Enterprises said the ongoing cyberattacks have caused disruption across the business, and is now in a third week suspension.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Lee said she is conducting forensic analysis to determine whether a cyberattack has stolen any confidentiality or personal data.
“Preliminary investigations show that threat actors illegally accessed the company's network, encrypted critical applications and excluded certain files,” Lee said in a filing, adding that the incident was ransomware. It was described as an attack.
Lee said he expects the outage to last several more weeks as the company recovers affected systems. The company said it notified law enforcement.
“This incident affected the company's business, including product distribution, billing, collection, and vendor payments. The distribution of printed publications across our product portfolio has been delayed and the online business is partially partial. “It was restricted,” the company said in its submission.
Lee Enterprises spokesman Tracy Rouch did not immediately return a request for comment Tuesday.
Lee is one of the largest newspaper publishers in the United States and provides publication and website services to 72 publications nationwide.
Lee said that one of the data centers hosting applications and services that include services that Lee and its customers pay for was “a” in response to an email sent by Lee CEO Kevin Mowbray on February 3. “Down” has been notified. I saw it.
Lee later said that customers cannot log in or access critical business applications.
Several Lee-owned publications continue to report disruptions with normal newspaper printing operations. The Winston-Salem Journal, which covers North Carolina, has prevented the disruption from printing some editions, and the two Lee-owned Oregon newspapers, Albany Democrats and Corvalis Gazette Times, have released at least two publications. I had a similar problem that hinders me. Edition until the weekend.
Other Lee Publications have displayed a website message saying “Currently, certain services are currently undergoing maintenance, and may affect access to subscription accounts and e-Edition.” I will.
Freedom of the Press Foundation has a running list of affected outlets.
Lee said the incident was “reasonably likely” to have a significant impact on the company's financial results.
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