Inquirer and forensics team investigating computer disruptions to publishing
Some computer systems had to be taken offline. A computer-forensics firm joined the investigation.
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The Inquirer and forensics experts are investigating “anomalous activity” that prompted the company to take some computer systems offline, disrupting publication of the Sunday print newspaper, the company said Saturday night. Online publication was not interrupted.
As a result, The Inquirer’s home-delivery customers will be receiving the Sunday early edition, which was composed Friday night, and will need to go online to Inquirer.com to get the latest news and information.
As issues with print publication are addressed, “we continue to provide Philly and the region with the latest news at Inquirer.com, and on our e-Edition,” Inquirer Publisher and CEO Elizabeth H. Hughes said.
She said in a statement that The Inquirer “recently discovered anomalous activity on select computer systems and immediately took those systems offline.”
She added that The Inquirer and specialists from the Kroll computer-forensics firm are working “to restore systems and fully investigate the matter.”
The statement did not address whether the company was the victim of a ransomware attack, in which invasive damaging software renders computer data unusable and victims are ordered to pay ransom to have it restored.
“As our investigation is ongoing, we are unable to provide that information at this time,” a company spokesman said.
He did not address questions on whether personal subscriber or employee information had been compromised.
In her statement, Hughes said, “Our investigation into this matter is ongoing, and we will keep our employees and readers informed as we learn more.”
Malware attacks have disrupted other U.S. newspapers in recent years. In December 2018, the New York Times wrote about an unusual cyberattack disrupting the Los Angeles Times’ printing operations and those at newspapers in San Diego and Florida over a single weekend. That attack also affected Saturday distribution of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, which shared use of a large printing plant in Los Angeles for their West Coast editions, according to the New York Times.
The Inquirer publication disruption is the most significant the company has faced since the blizzard of Jan. 7-8, 1996, and comes just days from the primary for the 100th mayoral election in Philadelphia.