Lee Enterprises, a major U.S. newspaper publisher, has confirmed a cyberattack that has led to significant disruptions across its media outlets. The company owns and operates numerous newspapers, including well-known publications like the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. In a communication sent to customers, Lee CEO Kevin Mowbray acknowledged the ongoing technical issues, which are linked to the cybersecurity incident that occurred earlier in the week. The company is working to restore its systems and mitigate the impact on its operations, although it has not provided specific details about the nature of the attack.
The cyberattack has caused widespread outages across Lee’s network of newspapers, with some editions being affected, although most publications have not missed any days. Reports indicate that multiple outlets, including the Casper Star-Tribune, have struggled with issues related to page-building and publishing. Many news outlets have warned their readers about potential disruptions to subscription accounts, while some have resorted to printing and delivering back issues to make up for the downtime.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch mentioned that the disruption affected the layout of newspapers during the week but has not resulted in the cancellation of publication.
Lee Enterprises has remained cautious about revealing details about the breach, including whether any data was accessed or stolen. While the company confirmed the incident as a “cybersecurity event,” it declined to comment on whether it had received any communication from the attackers or had identified the full scope of the attack. The company also did not confirm if its technical logs had provided any information about compromised data or systems. Given the ongoing investigation, Lee has refrained from discussing the type of attack or offering a timeline for resolution.
Several core systems were impacted, including the company’s subscriber services and VPN for remote employees. Affected applications also included call center tools and phone lines, which resulted in communication difficulties across the company. As of Monday, many of these systems remained offline, and Lee Enterprises has not provided an update on when normal operations will resume. Despite this, the company did not mention the attack in its most recent earnings report, even though it has reported a decline in its earnings for the fiscal first quarter.
Reference:
