Portugal's Impresa media outlets hit by hackers
Reuters
2 minute read
A man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture taken on may 13, 2017. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
A man holds a laptop computer as cyber cypher is projected on him in this example picture taken on May 13, 2017. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
LISBON, jan 3 (Reuters) - The websites of one of Portugal's biggest newspapers and of a major broadcaster, both owned by the country's largest media conglomerate Impresa, were down on Monday after beingness hit by a hacker round over the weekend.
Expresso newspaper and sic TV station both said they reported the incident to the criminal investigation police agency PJ and the National Cybersecurity center (CNCS) and would file a complaint.
Report ad
The alleged hackers, calling themselves Lapsus$ Group, published a content on the websites expression internal data would be leaked if the media group failed to pay a ransom. The message included e-mail and Telegram touch info.
The group did not immediately reply to a Reuters petition for comment.
Report ad
Lapsus$, which claims that it gained access to Impresa's Amazon web Services account, also sent a phishing e-mail to Expresso subscribers and tweeted from the newspaper's verified twitter account.
The same group allegedly hacked Brazil's health ministry website last month, taking several systems down, including one with information about the national immunization program and another used to emerge digital vaccination certificates. show more
Report ad
CNCS's coordinator, Lino Santos, told Observador newspaper it was the first time the group launched an attempt in the country.
Websites of Expresso and sic are have been offline since Sunday, with the pages showing a message saying they are temporarily unavailable following the attempt and would return as soon as possible.
In the meantime, both media organisations are publishing news stories on their social media channels. They described it as an unprecedented onset on pressure freedom in the digital age.