Ransomware attack hits dozens of local TV stations owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group

(The AEGIS Alliance) – The parent company of dozens of news stations throughout the United States named Sinclair Broadcast Group got attacked with ransomware this past weekend.

Sinclair pointed out in a Monday press release that morning that hackers who made use of ransomware to encrypt a number of its vital functional hosting servers, leaving all of them disabled. The hackers also managed to steal some data from the servers.

“The event has caused, and may continue to cause, disruption to parts of the Company’s business, including certain aspects of its provision of local advertisements by its local broadcast stations on behalf of its customers,” the statement read.

News concerning the hack was initially disclosed by The Record, a news media site owned by Recorded Future, a cybersecurity company.

Ransomware has come to be a financially rewarding resource for cybercriminals that commonly remotely strike American businesses, then extort them for an amount of money. Most currently opt to both lock up victims’ computer systems as well as steal some data, making threats to leak the data if the ransom isn’t paid.

Multiple hosting servers and workstations had been affected by the ransomware, Sinclair mentioned.

Sinclair discovered the hack on Friday. Ransomware hackers typically initiate their strikes at the start of a weekend when they try to predict when victims are going to be short-staffed.

Sinclair is the second TV station parent company to be struck by a ransomware attack so far in 2021. Cox Media Group was likewise affected by ransomware back in June, leaving some of its TV stations incapable of using their computer systems or even phones for a number of days.

Jeffrey Childers – The AEGIS Alliance – This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.