Portugal's Impresa media outlets smasher by hackers
Reuters
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A man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this example icon taken on may 13, 2017. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
A man holds a laptop computer as cyber encrypt is projected on him in this example depict taken on May 13, 2017. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
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LISBON, Jan 3 (Reuters) - The websites of 1 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 being strike by a hacker snipe 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 centre (CNCS) and would file a complaint.
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The alleged hackers, calling themselves Lapsus$ Group, published a message on the websites saying internal data would live leaked if the media group failed to pay a ransom. The content included e-mail and telegram contact info.
The radical did not immediately reply to a Reuters bespeak for comment.
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Lapsus$, which claims that it gained access to Impresa's Amazon web Services account, also sent a phishing email 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 info about the national immunization program and another used to publication digital vaccination certificates. read more
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CNCS's coordinator, Lino Santos, told Observador newsprint it was the first time the group launched an assault in the country.
Websites of Expresso and SIC are have been offline since Sunday, with the pages showing a content expression they are temporarily unavailable following the snipe and would payoff as soon as possible.
In the meantime, both media organisations are publishing tidings stories on their social media channels. They described it as an unprecedented attack on press freedom in the digital age.