Malware disrupts papers’ print production
Nationwide attack reached all Tribune Publishing; websites not affected
A computer virus disrupted production of The Baltimore Sun, Capital Gazette, Carroll County Times and other Tribune Publishing newspapers across the country, the company said Saturday.
Print editions of The Baltimore Sun, Capital Gazette and Carroll County Times were published Saturday without paid death notices and classified ads. In other markets similarly slimmed-down versions of the Saturday newspaper were published. he company continued to address the problems for Sunday editions.
Tribune Publishing news websites were not affected, and no customer information was compromised, the company said Saturday.
“This issue has affected the timeliness and in some cases the completeness of our printed newspapers,” Tribune Publishing spokeswoman Marisa Kollias said in a statement.
“Our websites and mobile applications, however, have not been impacted.”
Tribune Publishing discovered the presence of malware Friday that affected some systems used to publish and produce newspapers across the company, Kollias said.
The company is investigating the malware attack and “making progress” to resolve issues with its newspaper production, Kollias said. Tribune Publishing also reported the attack to the FBI on Friday.
“There is no evidence that customer credit card information or personally identifiable information has been compromised,” Kollias said.
All Tribune Publishing newspapers were affected by the malware, with the South Florida Sun Sentinel, for example, unable to produce its paper in time for Saturday delivery. Those newspapers will be delivered today, the company said.
Tribune owns Baltimore Sun Media, which also publishes two other daily newspapers in the region: the Carroll County Times and The Capital in Annapolis.
Formerly known as Tronc, Tribune Publishing also owns the Chicago Tribune, Hartford Courant, Orlando Sentinel, New York Daily News, The Morning Call in Allentown, Pa., the Daily Press in Newport News, Va., and The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Va.