Norwegian media company Amedia on Tuesday announced that it fell victim to a cyberattack that forced it to shut down multiple systems.
The second largest media company in Norway, Amedia owns 50 local and regional online and printed newspapers, as well as the Avisenes Nyhetsbyrå news agency.
The cyberattack, which took place in the night between December 27 and December 28, has had an impact on systems administered by Amedia Teknologi, the media giant’s central IT company.
Amedia says that the breach has affected its ability to print newspapers, because systems responsible for newspaper, advertisement, and subscription management are not operating normally.
“The problems we experience are due to an external data attack on some of our systems. We are in the process of gaining an overview of the situation, but do not yet know the full potential for damage,” the company says.
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Amedia says it has taken the necessary steps to contain the attack and limit damage, and is already working on restoring operations. It’s unclear if ransomware was involved.
“All available resources are now working intensively to solve the problems and uncover what damage has occurred,” the company says.
For the time being, “it is still unclear whether personal information about subscribers and employees” was stolen or compromised during the incident. However, the media giant assumes that data might have been affected and is getting ready to notify impacted individuals.
The impacted subscription systems contained user data, including names and addresses, phone numbers, and subscription forms and history. The incident did not have an impact on passwords, read history and card information.
Amedia says the problems it is experiencing following the incident are serious, adding that authorities will be informed on the issue.
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