Several US newspapers hit by cyber attack such as disturbed printing and delivery, source said

LOS ANGELES – A cyber attack that appears to have originated outside the United States, caused major print and delivery disturbances in several newspapers across the country on Saturday, including the Los Angeles Times, according to a source of knowledge of the situation. [19659002] The attack led to delays in the Saturday edition of The Times, The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Chicago Tribune, the Baltimore Sun and several other newspapers operating on a joint production platform. It also stymied the distribution of the West Coast editions of The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, all of which were printed at the Los Angeles Times Olympic Printing Works in downtown Los Angeles.

"We believe that the purpose of the attack was to disable infrastructure, specifically servers, as opposed to stealing information," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly.

No other details regarding the origin of the attack were immediately available, including the subject. The source only identified the attacker as a "foreign entity."

All papers in The Times & # 39; former parent company, Tribune Publishing, experienced paper manufacturing failures. Tribune Publishing sold The Times and San Diego Union-Tribune to the Los Angeles businessman Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong in June, but the companies continue to share different systems, including software.

"Every market across the company was influenced," said Marisa Kollias, tribune publishing spokeswoman. She refused to give details of the disturbances, but the company's properties include The Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun, Annapolis Capital Gazette, Hartford Courant, New York Daily News, Orlando Sentinel and Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel.

Tribune Publishing said in a statement on Saturday that "the personal information of our subscribers, web users and advertising customers has not been compromised. We apologize for any inconvenience and thank our readers and advertising partners for their patience as we investigate the situation. News and all our common features are available online. "

Times said the problem was first discovered Friday. The technology subjects made significant progress in fixing it, but failed to clear all the systems before the press.

Distributor for distribution Joe Robidoux said he expects the majority of Los Angeles Times subscribers to receive the paper on Saturday, but the delivery will be delayed. For print subscribers who did not receive Saturday's paper, they will receive the paper with regular scheduled delivery of the Sunday edition.

If you are one of our subscribers, it is likely that you did not receive your paper today. We are incredibly sorry for the inconvenience. Here's what happened to cause the delays: https://t.co/XsBAk0TWqk

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Los Angeles Times (@ latimes) December 29, 2018

The attack seemed to have begun late Thursday night, and Friday had spread to key areas needed to publish the paper.

The computer problem turns off a number of important software systems that store news reports, photographs, and administrative information, and made it difficult to create discs that were used to print the papers at The Times & # 39; center factory.

"We're trying to make jobs so we can get pages out. It's all in production. We need the plates to start the press. It's the bottleneck." Robidoux said.

"We apologize to our customers for this inconvenience. Thank you for your patience and support when answering this ongoing case," The Times said in a statement.

It was unclear whether the company has been in contact with law enforcement regarding the suspect An FBI spokeswoman was not immediately aware that the incident had been reported to his agency.

The problem caused widespread problems for the Sun Sentinel readers in South Florida, one of Tribune Publishing's major markets. It had been "curled by the weekend of a computer virus that shut down production and prevented telephone lines," according to a story on its website.

The problem led to widespread confusion, the paper pointed out, because subscribers who called the newspaper's offices on Saturday morning were "told errors , that the numbers were not in use. "The New York Times and Palm Beach Mailers in South Florida also failed to receive their Saturday editions because Sun-Sentinel also prints the papers. Sun Sentinel told readers that they would get their Saturday issue with their Sunday papers. subscribers received their papers on time, according to a Tribune Publishing executive.

Ventura County Star, owned by Gannett Co. Inc., said it was also affected.

"Usually when someone tries to interfere with a significant digital resource like a newspaper, you look at an experienced and sophisticated hacker, says Pam Dixon, CEO of the World Privacy Forum, a nonprofit public interest research group.

Over time, Malware has become more sophisticated and coordinated, involving more network planning by hackers infiltrating a system over time, she said.

"Modern malware is about the long game," Dixon said. "There are serious attacks, not small things anymore. When people think of malicious software, the impression may be," There is a small program running on my computer, "Dixon said.

Today," malware can root into those deepest systems and interfere with very important aspects of these systems. "

– By Tony Barboza, Meg James and Emily Alpert Reyes, Los Angeles Times