How cyber attack disrupted operation at German’s Rheinische Post

 

RHEINISCHE – The German regional media group Rheinische Post produced emergency editions of its papers on Monday after a cyber attack at the in-house IT service provider.

The printed and digital editions of the regional newspapers in western Germany could not be offered in the usual form, the Rheinische Post said.

Apparently no data had been stolen, it said, including data from customers. Individual technical systems had to be switched off because of the attack and the connection to the internet had to be cut, the group said.

The Aachener Zeitung, which belongs to the same media group, addressed its readers on the first page saying that they were publishing an emergency edition, “which does not fully correspond to what you are used to from us.” The Bonn-based General-Anzeiger produced an edition that was “not published to the usual extent and with the usual topicality.”

The news portals of the affected newspapers were only accessible to a limited extent on Monday. The disruption has been ongoing since Friday evening, according to the publisher.

“We reacted in time. We are working around the clock to solve the problems and we are making progress,” the Rheinische Post said on Monday.