April 30, 2024 at 04:14PM
The Philadelphia Inquirer disclosed a May 2023 cyberattack which compromised the personal and financial data of 25,549 individuals. The breach led to disruption in the publication of the print newspaper, prompting home-delivery subscribers to rely on the unaffected website for news. The incident was claimed by the Cuba ransomware group, which published stolen files on the dark web.
From the meeting notes, it is evident that The Philadelphia Inquirer, a leading daily newspaper, experienced a significant security breach in May 2023. The breach involved the theft of personal and financial information of 25,549 individuals and was attributed to the Cuba ransomware gang. The breach led to the disruption of the publication’s print newspaper and prompted the engagement of Kroll forensics experts to investigate the incident.
In response to the breach, The Inquirer took certain computer systems offline and communicated with impacted individuals, advising them to monitor their accounts for identity theft and fraud. The publication offered 24 months of free Experian credit monitoring and identity restoration services to those affected. Notably, the ransomware group claimed they had stolen various documents and correspondence from the compromised servers, including financial records, balance sheets, and source code.
Furthermore, the FBI and CISA revealed that the Cuba ransomware gang had collected over $60 million in ransoms until August 2022, following breaches of more than 100 victims worldwide. It was also noted that a previous FBI advisory from December 2021 had warned about the Cuba operators compromising at least 49 U.S. critical infrastructure organizations.
Overall, the severity and implications of the security breach underscore the importance of vigilant cybersecurity measures and response protocols for organizations, especially in the face of escalating ransomware threats.