Attack against Lee Enterprises admitted by Qilin ransomware gang

Russia-linked Qilin ransomware-as-a-service operation has claimed compromising Lee Enterprises in a cyberattack earlier last month, which not only led to a significant disruption in printed publication distribution but also purportedly resulted in the exfiltration of 350 GB of files from the major U.S. local newspaper publisher, SecurityWeek reports.

Included in the pilfered data trove were investor records, payments to journalists and publishers, news story funding, insider information acquisition techniques, and allegedly questionable financial arrangements, according to Qilin, which has already leaked passport and driver's license scans, spreadsheets, and corporate files as it threatened to expose the entirety of the stolen information by Wednesday should Lee Enterprises refuse to pay the demanded ransom. Since its emergence in October 2022, Qilin has taken credit for breaching almost 300 organizations, among the most notable of which were London hospitals that had their operations and appointments canceled following the group's attack against third-party medical testing and diagnostics provider Synnovis last year.