CH Media and NZZ affected by hacker attacks
The media companies CH Media and NZZ were hit by cyber attacks on Friday, according to their own statements. Various services of the two companies were targeted by the attack.
Among other things, work in editorial offices was affected, including the production of radio programs, as the Keystone-SDA news agency learned from editorial circles. It was initially unclear to what extent newspaper production was disrupted.
The operation should be restored quickly, CH Media announced on Friday afternoon. The problems had already occurred in the morning. The attack could have an impact on "market services and products," CH Media wrote. A company spokeswoman said at the request of Keystone-SDA, one can not yet make any concrete statements.
CH Media reportedly obtains various IT services from the NZZ media group and was thus also directly affected by the cyber attack on the NZZ infrastructure. The incident is being investigated together with the NZZ.
For its part, the NZZ company wrote in a statement that the attack had been detected and isolated at an early stage. The attack is being analyzed by NZZ's IT department, external specialists and experts from the National Center for Cyber Security (NCSC) and the Zurich Cantonal Police.
Attacks from Russia and North Korea
According to CH Media, this is a cyber attack by so-called ransomware. Hackers can use this to penetrate a victim's computer system and gain access to IT systems or data, or even block them. They can also lock out their victims with encryption technology and demand a ransom.
Recent victims of ransomware attacks include the German University of Duisburg-Essen, the British postal service and the Canadian children's hospital Sick Kids. Many ransomware groups are believed to be based in Russia.
However, Russian authorities deny that the country is a haven for these groups. Experts also believe that many ransomware attacks are undertaken from North Korea. (SDA)
