Philadelphia Inquirer Hit by Cyberattack Causing Newspaper's Largest Disruption in Decades
The Philadelphia Inquirer has been hit with a cyberattack, causing significant disruptions to its operations.
PHILADELPHIA, PA (AP) - The Philadelphia Inquirer has experienced its most significant disruption in 27 years as a result of what it calls a "cyberattack".
The Inquirer, a newspaper in the United States, reported that the company was working on restoring print operations following a cyber intrusion which prevented the printing Sunday's print edition of the paper.
The Inquirer reported that the website of the news operation was still functional on Sunday, though updates were slower than usual.
Inquirer Publisher Lisa Hughes stated Sunday that 'we currently are unable to give an exact timeline' for the full restoration of paper's system.
Hughes responded to an email from the newspaper's newsroom by saying, "We appreciate everyone's understanding and patience as we work on fully restoring systems and completing this investigation as quickly as possible."
Employees of the newspaper discovered that Saturday morning, their content-management system did not work.
Hughes stated that The Inquirer had 'discovered anomalous activities on selected computer systems' and took them off-line immediately.
The Inquirer reported that the cyberattack caused the biggest disruption in the publication of Pennsylvania's leading news organization since the massive blizzard of January 1996.
Cyberattacks are a precursor to a primary mayoral election scheduled for tomorrow. Hughes stated that the disruption of operations would not impact the coverage of the election. However, journalists would be unable use the newsroom during election night.
Hughes told the Inquirer that other Inquirer staff will not be allowed use of offices until at least Tuesday and the company is looking into coworking arrangements on Tuesday.
Hughes stated that the FBI was contacted and an investigation is being conducted into the scope and targets of the attack.
Inquirer reporters reported that the FBI in Philadelphia refused to respond to questions and comments from journalists.