US media company Lee Enterprises revealed this week that the serious cyberattack it suffered earlier in the year resulted in a data breach affecting nearly 40,000 people.
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Lee Enterprises, which owns 350 weekly and topical publications in 25 states, suffered major disruptions to dozens of them in February due to a ransomwarethat included the encryption of critical applications and the theft of files.
The company this week notified the Maine State Attorney General's office that it had completed its investigation into the incident and determined that personal data was compromised
According to Lee Enterprises, attackers may have gained access to information on 39,779 people, including names and social security numbers, as a result of the breach. Affected individuals are being offered 12 months of free credit monitoring and identity protection services.
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The Qilin ransomware group claimed responsibility for the attack on Lee Enterprises in late February, claiming to have stolen 350GB of files.
The cybercriminals then threatened to release the stolen data if a ransom was not paid. They even released samples of the data to support their claims of the breach, including screenshots of scanned passports and driver's licenses, as well as corporate documents from Lee Enterprises.
It is unclear whether the Qilin ultimately went ahead with the release of the data. Lee Enterprises no longer appears to be listed on the group's Tor. The company noted that there is no evidence of misuse or attempted misuse of the potentially affected information.
See also: Cartier reveals customer data breach
Based on the above, the Lee Enterprises breach is a prime example of the growing threats facing media companies from organized cybercrime groups like Qilin . Ransomware attacks no longer just affect technology infrastructure, but directly threaten the privacy and security of thousands of people’s personal data .
Source: securityweek
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