The Guardian, a British newspaper, has reported that its parent company, Guardian Media Group, has been “hit by a serious IT incident, which is thought to be a ransomware attack.”
The incident, which began late Tuesday and has affected parts of the company’s IT infrastructure, was first reported by The Guardian’s media editor. The hack, which began late Tuesday night, disabled Wi-Fi access at the media group’s King’s Cross headquarters. Other public computer systems were also impacted. Employees in the office were forced to work on laptops and cell phones.
“There has also been some disruption to behind-the-scenes services. Online publishing is largely unaffected, with stories continuing to be written and published to the Guardian website and app,” said The Guardian. In its own reporting of the incident, the Guardian said online publishing was “largely unaffected”.
Employees have been told to work from home for the rest of the week due to the disruption caused by the ransomware attack. Many of the company’s internal systems remain operational, and journalists can continue to publish stories online and use email as usual.
According to the Press Gazette, the Guardian is the world’s ninth most-read news website, with nearly 390 million visits in November.
The sources for this piece include an article in BBC.