Lee Enterprise faced disruption due to an alleged cyberattack

One of the US’ largest newspaper organisations, Lee Enterprise, stated that an alleged cyberattack on its networks caused an outage last week that compromised its daily operations.

The company disclosed this incident on February 3, 2025, by explaining that it experienced a tech outage caused by a cyber incident affecting specific corporate applications, resulting in an operational disruption.

Moreover, a company representative stated that a dedicated team are working hard to finish this inquiry as soon and entirely as possible. However, these types of investigations are complex and time-consuming, with many requiring several weeks or longer to complete.

Reports also revealed that the intrusion forced the company to shut down many of its networks, affecting the production and delivery of dozens of publications.

A separate researcher also discovered that the subsequent outage had caused problems throughout the newspaper company. VPNs that connect securely to the network are failing, and reporters and editors cannot access their data.

 

Lee Enterprise has posted on its website that they are resolving ongoing maintenance issues.

 

Since the attack, Lee Enterprise has placed banners at the top of its websites stating that it is currently maintaining some services, which may temporarily affect access to subscription accounts and the E-edition. The company also insisted that it regrets any inconvenience and thanked its readers for their patience while it tried to resolve the issues.

Still, the publication claimed that it cannot comment on the details still being investigated, and it will not be allowed to reveal anything that could jeopardise the investigation or any inquiry by law enforcement.

The local news supplier publishes 77 daily newspapers and 350 weekly and specialist periodicals in 26 states. Its publications have a daily circulation of at least 1.2 million, and digital versions have more than 44 million unique visitors.

This event is not the first time this company has suffered a significant cybersecurity setback, as Lee Enterprises was exposed to another incident five years ago. The attack occurred before the 2020 US presidential election when Iranian hackers broke into its network as part of a more significant disinformation campaign.

As of now, the ongoing issue has yet to reveal substantial details about the nature of the attack and which threat actors executed it.