With TalkTalk having suffered a “significant and sustained” cyber-attack on its website, a timely piece of research reveals that similar threats loom over media outlets across the world.
According to a global study carried out by Newscycle Solutions, 52% of news media companies it canvassed were either hacked or suffered a data breach from the beginning of 2014. A further 12% were uncertain if their businesses had been attacked or compromised.
Although the two most common types of reported cyber-attack involved phishing (59%) and malware (51%) it was the 49% of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks by so-called hacktivists that are said to have posed a particular concern. They have attempted to take over media websites for political purposes.
Peter Marsh, Newscycle Solutions’ vice president of marketing, believes that the news media industry is especially vulnerable to cyber-attacks.
“With cyber-attacks and data breaches continuing to grow in scale, sophistication and frequency,” he writes, “publishers must take every step possible to protect themselves from those who seek to silence their voices and steal their valuable data...
“Cyber-security must become a board-level priority for all news media businesses. It’s a war. It’s spreading. And, every user must become part of the fight.”
The Newscycle survey was conducted among 100 senior technology managers, IT directors and executives working at newspapers and online news publishing companies across the world.
They told of a range of cyber-attacks such as SQL injection, ransomware and the hacking of mobile sites and social media channels.
One respondent told researcher: “We bolster our systems to prevent cyber-attacks, yet we find that social engineering ploys against users will sometimes get past these systems.
“The user goes to a website promising a reward, or opens an email carrying an unwanted payload. This is so simple and requires no complex ‘hacking’ or insider knowledge; the users will open the door for them.”
In the face of cyber-attacks, 65% of respondents said that their companies have increased the focus on cyber-security in the past six months.
Source: Editor & Publisher
