Cyberattacks target newspapers of all sizes
Kate Decker
Apr 1, 2025
On Feb. 3, Lee Enterprise newspapers reported printing and delivery was disrupted across many of its markets as it experienced a “cybersecurity event” (https://bit.ly/4j1hNTf).
Online publication BleepingComputer reported that many Lee websites had 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."
BleepingComputer has since reported that Russian-speaking Qilin ransomware gang claims responsibility for the attack, boasting theft of 120,000 files totaling 350GB in size (https://bit.ly/4c8Dxuh).
While Lee also experienced a cyber-attack five years ago in 2020, that time with the goal of spreading misinformation about the U.S. presidential election, large newspapers have not always been the sole targets.
Almost 20 years ago, in 2005, The Village Reporter of Montpelier, Ohio (formerly located in West Unity, Ohio), suffered a cyberattack at the hands of an ex-employee and a co-conspirator who worked in the technology industry.
It was the Sunday before the Thanksgiving edition, an edition that offset weeks where advertising did not cover the costs, owner/publisher Forrest Church remembered in a recent conversation via Zoom.
At this time, the newspaper was in a storefront. Church and his wife, Casey, lived in the apartment above it. About 24 hours to press time, in his typical fashion, Forrest went downstairs to polish and clean up the pages.
Forrest recalls he went to the computer, and it wouldn’t access the server. He goes to the server, which is in the same building, and the screen is black. There is just one folder in the center, named a curse word.
Plan B. Forrest drove to his backup server that was on the other side of the large, rural farm county in Edon, Ohio, at another of his newspaper’s offices. He finds another black screen, folder titled “now you are really … curseword.”
Production halted.
Forrest says he sought the help of local law enforcement, who traced the IP address to the home of an employee that had been terminated for prescription drug abuse.
The police raided the home and “found absolute guilt,” Forrest remembers. But, long story short, the court system did not financially reimburse any of the stolen data.
“The judge more or less said, I have no way of knowing what a dollar value is on virtual files,’” Forrest said. “We have roots back to the 1870s — these papers always published through World Wars, through the Great Depression, through just some really dark times.”
WHERE DO YOU GO FROM HERE?
“I was just in a dark place,” Forrest remembers. “We just tried to start rebuilding the best that we could.”
Forrest and Casey were in their first few years of marriage at this time, and Forrest says he would often listen to Dave Ramsey’s business hour on the radio.
He continues, “I was literally laying on the floor in prayer, not good prayer: What are You doing to us here?”
And he hears the Ramsey show starting in the other room. “I didn’t hear an audible voice, but I knew to call.”
This was back in the day when you would still get a busy tone.
“It rang, and I got a screener who said, ‘This is so and so with the Dave Ramsey show. How can we help you today?’” Forrest recalls. “He (Ramsey) gave advice, and then he said, ‘This is bigger than you can handle. I've never done this before, but I feel like God just spoke to me.’”
Ramsey invited Forrest and Casey down to Nashville for his annual high-end business program, all expenses paid.
Forrest remembers Ramsey saying, “Our team is going to surround you and help you specifically get a vision, encourage you and help you build back because what you do is important as a community newspaper publisher.’”
TODAY
If you’ve been thinking about implementing a good backup system, now is the time to do it.
“Honestly, I still wonder till today, 20 years later, where would we be if we didn't have to rebuild for all this time?” Forrest said.
Kate Decker is the managing editor of Publishers’ Auxiliary. Email her at kate@nna.org
