Lee Enterprises, one of the largest newspaper publishing corporations in the United States, has disclosed that personal data belonging to nearly 40,000 current and former employees was exposed in a ransomware attack earlier this year.
In an official filing with the Maine Attorney General, Lee Enterprises confirmed the breach occurred during a major cyberattack in February, carried out by the notorious ransomware group known as Qilin. Among the compromised information were critical details such as Social Security numbers for 39,779 people connected to the company’s operations.
The cyberattack had wide-ranging effects, disrupting newspaper production, freezing payments to freelancers and contractors, and severely impacting Lee’s ability to provide publishing technology and web services to its more than 70 affiliated publications nationwide. The operations across multiple local media outlets remained severely impaired for several weeks.
Qilin, the group implicated in this incident, has a well-known history of conducting malicious cybersecurity breaches that significantly disrupt business operations and infrastructure. Lee Enterprises has yet to provide additional comment or details regarding their response to the breach and efforts to mitigate future threats.
