Massive Cyberattack Actually Halts Printing Press At Newspaper Giant

Earlier this week, one of Norway’s largest publishers, Amedia, saw its printing press come to a halt following a massive cyberattack on its operating systems. The company, which owns 78 different publications, couldn’t print the newspapers, and till now, the issue has yet to be resolved.

“The situation is unclear,” said Amedia’s Executive Vice President of Technology, Pål Nedregotten. Gizmodo translated his statement from Norwegian to English.

“We are in the process of gaining an overview of the situation, but do not yet know the full potential for damage. We have already implemented comprehensive measures to limit the damage and restore normal operations as quickly as possible,” he added. 

Even more worrying, the firm said it “cannot be ruled out” that subscribers and employees had their personal information exposed as part of the hack. The software that was targeted had data on names, addresses, phone numbers, and subscription histories for customers, which could have been downloaded by a bad actor.

Fortunately, information such as customer passwords or credit card details weren’t affected by the breach. While waiting for its printing press to resume services, Amedia has said it will continue publishing online versions of its newspapers in the meantime.

It remains to be seen if Amedia will be able to identify the actors behind the attack, and when its operations will be able to resume fully.

[via Gizmodo, cover image via Michel Bussieres | Dreamstime.com]