Published at : 14 Jan 2023 09:57 AM (IST)
During a ransomware assault that took place a month ago, it has been verified by the British publication The Guardian that hackers gained access to the personal data of staff members in the United Kingdom.
The data breach was revealed by The Guardian in an update that was delivered to workers on Wednesday. The newspaper reported on the hack immediately after the email was sent. Employees were informed in an email that was signed by the chief executive of the news outlet, Anna Bateson, and the editor-in-chief of the news outlet, Katharine Viner, that the cyberattack involved “unauthorised third-party access to parts of our network,” and that it was likely triggered by a phishing attempt. However, the executives did not provide any additional information about the attack.
Phishing is a prevalent strategy used by attackers, and it has been implicated in a number of recent data breaches, including those at Twilio, DoorDash, and Bed Bath & Beyond.
The Guardian informed employees in the United Kingdom that their sensitive personal information had been obtained by malicious actors. There are roughly 1,500 people working for the newspaper throughout the world, the majority of whom are located in the United Kingdom.
The Guardian has confirmed to GetPureGyan that “all U.K. staff are affected” by the breach, and that the data that was accessed “may include human resources data collected as part of everyone’s employment at The Guardian.” This information was provided by a spokesperson for The Guardian, who spoke to GetPureGyan. According to the first claim from The Record, a spokeswoman for the company stated that sensitive information such as employee names, residences, national insurance numbers, government identification papers, and pay data were stolen.
The firm also said that it had no reason to assume that the personal data of readers and subscribers had been obtained, and it does not believe that hackers acquired the personal data of staff members in either the United States or Australia.
However, there are still many questions that need to be answered about the incident, such as who was behind it and whether or not The Guardian complied with a ransom demand.
On December 21, The Guardian was the first news outlet to report that it had been the target of a ransomware assault. During that time period, employees were instructed to do their jobs “behind the scenes” from the comfort of their own homes until at least January 23. The company was dealing with a disturbance. The newspaper said that even though it anticipates that several essential systems will be back up and running “over the next two weeks,” a return to office working by personnel in the United Kingdom has been delayed until early February.
