The News Stations hit by Ransomware and What you Need to Know

Sinclair Broadcast group was added as the second broadcasting group to be hit with ransomware this year and landed on the covers of major news websites just yesterday but first reported by The Record a media outlet owned by the cybersecurity firm Recorded Future the day before on the 17th. The attack occurred on Friday as hackers often launch their attacks at the beginnings of weekends in the hope that victims will be short staffed. Since then, it has been uncovered that many channels weren’t able to broadcast morning shows, “news segments, and scheduled NFL games, according to a barrage of tweets coming from viewers and the TV channels themselves.” The Record told their audience that the attack could have been prevented to spread so far if it weren’t for the fact that everything was so interconnected through the same Active Directory domain. Allowing the attackers to reach a broad range of broadcasting systems. Past incidents include

·      Cox Media Group

·      France’s M6

·      Entercom

·      The Weather Channel

·      KHQA

·      KOMO News in Seattle

·      WLUK Fox 22 in Wisconsin

·      CBS in Albany, N.Y.

·      KATU in Portland, Ore.

With all varying dates this isn’t the first time Sinclair has been hit and in fact enacted a system wide password reset in July after what it described as a “potentially serious network security issue.” A Sinclair spokesperson could not be contacted through email or phone as these systems were down because of the attack. The Washington Post stated that “Sinclair is the latest in a growing list of businesses, schools, hospitals and other institutions to face ransom demands from hackers who use malware to encrypt data on their computer systems rendering them unusable.” All for the chance to make some money off these companies. They found among further inspection that several of its servers and workstations were encrypted with ransomware and that hackers took unspecified data that was connected through the same generic Active Directory domain that runs the entire company so they are suspecting that this may continue to cause disruption to the company’s business and local advertisement. However, the company is pushing forward as some journalists continued to deliver broadcasts through Facebook Live and video clips on Twitter sharing updates on local news, traffic, and weather.

      As cyberattacks ramp up so too has the Biden administration as they have just concluded a two-day meeting on ransomware with more than 30 nations recognizing it for the first time as a global security threat and agreeing to work together to fight it. But the real change can start with you and teaming up with Mi-Token to prevent such a catastrophic incident in your company or personal life.