Nine Entertainment confirms it suffered network attack

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Nine Entertainment confirms it suffered network attack

 

Image by Oleg Gamulinskiy from Pixabay

 

Nine Entertainment, a major media company in Australia which owns free-to air TV stations and newspapers, says it was hit by a network attack that has interfered with its operations on Sunday.

The company told its employees in a note that the attack had disrupted live broadcasts out of Nine Sydney.

 

Even the NRL Sunday Footy Show copped an injury this weekend https://t.co/lN7OzSML17

— Ron (@ronstradamus1) March 28, 2021

 

All employees were advised to work from home as IT teams tackled the issue and worked through it.

 

The company said anyone working from the office would experience disruptions in the IT network.

 

The Australian Financial Review, one of the newspapers in Nine's stable, reported earlier that the company's North Sydney headquarters had been affected.

 

As a result, Channel Nine was being broadcast from its Melbourne headquarters, it said.

 

Nine broadcasts the weekly rugby league matches staged by the NRL and that is expected to go ahead. But it was unable to broadcast its weekly NRL Sunday Footy Show, the AFR said.

 

Something catastrophic must have occurred at Channel 9 Sydney for the Today Show, Sports Sunday and the NRL Footy Show to be canned today.

— Gavin Flanagan (@gavflano) March 28, 2021

 

Twitter users voiced their frustration over the show not being aired, unaware of the reason behind its absence.

 

The program Weekend Today, which begins at 7am and runs until 1pm on Sundays. could not go to air either.

 

Contacted for comment, a Nine spokesperson said: "Nine is responding to technical issues affecting live broadcasting.

 

@PhilGould15 @Channel9 Where is the NRL Sunday footy show? Thought starts 11am in NSW???

— niceprofits (@niceprofitstips) March 28, 2021

 

"At this stage we are working through the impacts across the network and will provide an update as we resolve the systems.

"[The] NRL, 6pm News Bulletins and our evening schedule will proceed as normal."

 

The AFR said publishing at the company was also affected and staff had been advised not to turn on computers or restart those that were running.

 

Network access was not available in the Sydney headquarters and some of the software used for publishing was also offline.

 

To all NRL fans @NRLonNine apologises that due to technical difficulties we can’t broadcast the Sunday Footy Show - but here’s something special for you instead - 2 hours of 8 blokes talking everything AFL. Thank us later.

— David A (@davey_A67) March 28, 2021

 

The company also owns The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald, which it acquired when it bought the parent company of those two newspapers, Fairfax Media in 2018.

 

Fairfax experienced a network attack in 2017, when a 32-year-old man from Seattle tried to get articles about himself removed from various news sites, including those belonging to Fairfax Media, by launching a distributed denial of service on the company, and some other firms in Canada and the US.

 

The man, Kamyar Jahanrakhshan, tried to get articles removed from the Sydney Morning Herald, a site for legal articles known as Leagle.com, Metronews.ca, a Canadian news website, CBC in Canada and Canada.ca.

 

 

Source: Nine Entertainment confirms it suffered network attack

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Channel Nine morning show goes ahead a day after network attack

 

The Today show in progress on Monday.Sam Varghese

 

Channel Nine, the main TV channel owned by Nine Entertainment, has managed to put its breakfast show Today to air on Monday, a day after the show's weekend edition could not be aired on Sunday due to what the company has called a "cyber attack".

 

However, iTWire understands that the mess caused by the network attack is still being cleaned up and there is no assurance that all programming on Channel Nine will proceed as usual on Monday.

 

Ransomware is being rebranded cyber attack by victims. I don’t have an informed opinion as to if that’s a good or bad thing, but it’s definitely a pattern. https://t.co/UGlnbeFoc4

— Kevin Beaumont (@GossiTheDog) March 24, 2021

 

One of the company's main newspaper websites, The Age Online, appeared to be only partially updated this morning, judging by the stories that were online on Sunday evening.

The company said it had no update to offer about the attack this morning. Media reports indicate that Nine has not received any request for a ransom.

But a security source told iTWire there was no doubt that ransomware was involved, though it was not possible to point right now to any particular group as being responsible.

 

Maybe a Russian was forced to watch an episode of ‘Married At First Sight’ on @Channel9 & this then prompted the cyber attack.#auspol #ScottyFromCoverups #Media #Russia #Hackers #CyberAttack

— How Can We Save & Repair Australia? ? (@JusticeOzzie) March 28, 2021

 

Well-known British security researcher Kevin Beaumont tweeted a few days back that ransomware attacks were increasingly being described as "cyber attacks".

 

lol turning a cyberattack on your own tv station into a breaking news story is the most meta move ever

— aidswidjaja (@adrianpenguin1) March 28, 2021

 

Some media reports have drawn what appears to be a long bow, linking the attack to Nine's scheduling a program about Russia's use of chemical poisons to kill its enemies abroad, as part of its new Under Investigation series.

 

Didn't pay their iinet bill.

— Aussie_xrp. (@Aussie90107270) March 28, 2021

 

Presented by veteran Liz Hayes, the program is scheduled to go to air on Monday night. It has already looked at China's role in COVID-19.

Reports also say that the Australian Cyber Security Centre has been asked for help in tackling the aftermath of the attack.

 

Channel 7 ?

— Pete McCormack (@PMc108) March 28, 2021

 

The prevailing theory is a disgruntled employee, unhappy over recent contract negotiations. Police reportedly have few leads, but sources confirm screens throughout Channel 9 read 'MoRE hONEY!" pic.twitter.com/fbghtguebN

— David Scott Aubrey (@davidakaclean) March 28, 2021

 

Could’ve been payback for this over 20 years ago: https://t.co/NqXqRjUoPv pic.twitter.com/tJlIdMW52W

— Brandon ? (@b3108) March 28, 2021

 

 

Source: Channel Nine morning show goes ahead a day after network attack