Lee Enterprises, a leading U.S. newspaper chain, said it is investigating a cybersecurity incident that led to disruption of the company’s operations, according to a Friday securities filing.
Lee Enterprises has notified law enforcement and is working with third-party forensic specialists to restore its systems and figure out the full extent of the impact.
The company is reviewing the full impact of the attack on its financial condition, operations and internal controls. As of Friday, the company had not yet determined any impact that was considered material, but an assessment was ongoing, according to the 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“We are now focused on determining what information – if any – may have been affected by the situation,” spokesperson Tracy Rouch told Cybersecurity Dive via email. “We are working to complete this investigation as quickly and thoroughly as possible, but these types of investigations are complex and time-consuming, with many taking several weeks or longer to complete.”
The company declined to comment on specifics regarding the incident, saying it could compromise its internal investigation or the investigation by law enforcement.
The company serves 72 markets in 25 states with a portfolio that includes major daily newspapers and almost 350 weekly and specialty publications. Many of the publications have been impacted in some capacity by the attack.
Various newspaper websites, including The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Omaha World-Herald and Buffalo News, notified readers that they were “undergoing maintenance on some services,” which could impact access to subscription accounts and the E-edition.
Lee Enterprises officials are working with third-party support to determine what steps can be taken to prevent such an incident from happening in the future. The company has not provided any details regarding what led to the Feb. 3 incident.
Lee Enterprises in December selected AWS as its preferred cloud provider in a bid to modernize its cloud infrastructure and accelerate the development of generative AI.
During a quarterly conference call on Thursday, Lee Enterprises CEO Kevin Mowbray said the company had made great progress with its digital transformation plans.
Les Ottolenghi, chief transformation and commercial officer, told analysts on the call that the company had made significant advances in “AI-driven personalization” for readers and “AI business technology for our advertisers”
