Local Newspaper Chain Hit By Cyberattack

By Gordon HopkinsThe publisher of the Beatrice Daily Sun, Lincoln Journal-Star and Omaha World Herald, is the latest victim in a series of cyberattacks that have had a local impact.Last week, Lee Enterprises was hit by a cyberattack that disrupted the publication of both print and e-editions of several local papers for multiple days.Tracy Rouch, Director of Communications for Lee Enterprises, told FJN via email, “Lee Enterprises is working through technology issues that caused some disruption to our day-to-day work. Our technology response team has been working with third-party specialists to fully restore our systems and investigate the nature of these disruptions.” Rouch indicated it is not yet known if any data has been compromised, “We are now focused on determining what information – if any – may have been affected by the situation. 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. We have notified law enforcement of the situation.”“We cannot speculate on details that remain under investigation, and we will not be able to share information that could compromise our investigation or any investigation by law enforcement,” added Rouch. Lee Enterprises is one of the largest newspaper groups in the United States, publishing 75 daily newspapers and 350 weekly newspapers and specialty publications in 26 states, including Nebraska.In a filing with the SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) Lee Entrpises reveled, “On February 3, 2025, the Company experienced a technology outage due to a cyber incident affecting certain business applications, resulting in an operational disruption. The Company is actively investigating the incident, implementing recovery measures, and assessing the potential impact on its operations, financial condition, and internal controls. As of the date of this filing, the Company has not identified any impact that is material; however, the evaluation remains ongoing.” As of press time, websites for various Lee Enterprises newspapers continue to display the message, “We are currently undergoing maintenance on some services, which may temporarily affect access to subscription accounts and the E-edition. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your patience as we work to resolve the issues.” This is not the first cyberattack on Lee Enterprises. On November 19, 2021, the Wall Street Journal reported, “Iranian hackers last year infiltrated the computer systems of newspaper publisher Lee Enterprises as part of a broader effort to spread disinformation about the 2020 U.S. presidential election, people familiar with the matter say.”Other CyberattacksTwo other recent high profile cyberattack may have serious and long-term impacts on local residents. Both PowerSchool a software vendor that provides the Student Information System (SIS) for schools around the world, and Change Healthcare, a division of UnitedHealth Group that provides revenue and payment cycle management, suffered major data breaches in 2024. Some of the data compromised includes Personally Identifiable Information (PII), which can be used for identity theft. Because of this, both PowerSchool and Change Healthcare are offering two years of free credit monitoring and identity protection services for those individuals whose PII may have been accessed.PowerSchoolPowerschool provides SIS software to more than 18,000 schools, supporting more than 60 million students for many local schools, including many locals schools.The software provider has advised schools that they believe all the data that was downloaded has been destroyed at this time. Ryan McDowell, director of IT & SNDLC for ESU5 (Educational Service Unit 5), told FJN in an email on January 21, “Powerschool has told us that they came to an agreement with the cybercriminals and that the data was destroyed.”Evidence that the data was destroyed was provided to PowerSchool in the form of a video. McDowell wrote, “They did a video chat with them where they used the Linux ‘Shred’ command, which securely destroys the data. This doesn’t mean the cybercriminals didn’t copy the data before showing this. Essentially they have to trust the criminals that stole the data in the first place to keep their word that they actually deleted everything.”With the possibility that the data still exists, McDowell explained, “This is where the credit and dark web monitoring come into place if something did get leaked.”PowerSchool has reached out to the FBI as well as CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity company, and an investigation is ongoing.Change HealthcareUntil changing insurance providers last year, UnitedHealth insured employees of Jefferson County. Jefferson County Commissioner Mark Schoenrock and County Clerk Kris Riggle both confirmed they have received no contact from Change Healthcare about the breach.In addition to patients and those insured by UnitedHealth, the data of healthcare providers has also been compromised. Change Healthcare began mailing written notices to individuals affected by the incident on July 29, 2024.The original estimate of the number of people who had their records stolen was approximately 100,000, making it the largest ever report. Since then, UnitedHealth Group has revised that number to 190 million people.On December 16, 2024, Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers filed a major lawsuit in Lancaster County District Court against Change Healthcare alleging violations of Nebraska’s Consumer Protection and Data Security Laws.“This data breach is historic. Not only because it compromised the most sensitive privacy and financial data of Nebraskans, but also because it shut down the payment and claim processing systems that form a significant part of the backbone of the medical payment processing industry,” said Attorney General Hilgers. “Healthcare providers, including critical access hospitals in rural areas, have unfairly been forced to absorb financial pain, forcing major cash flow issues and, in some cases, delayed services. And to make matters worse, Change has woefully disregarded the duty to provide notice to Nebraskans, depriving them of a fighting chance to be prepared for possible scams and fraud. We’re filing this suit to hold Change accountable.”While Change Healthcare reported discovering the data breach on February 21, 2024, Hilgers indicated the breach actually began on February 11.

Fairbury Hires New Housing Authority Director

New JCH&L CEO Knew The Value Of Rural Health Care At An Early Age

Related Articles

Praise and Pancakes

Shamrock Shuffle

Odell Resident Recognizes Bitcoin Message As ‘Smishing’ Scam

Steele City Holds Meeting on Water Main Project