Hackers disrupted live broadcasts at Channel Nine. Is it a Russian retaliation?

A cyber attack has disrupted the Australian Channel Nine’s live broadcasts, the company was unable to transmit its Sunday morning news program.

A cyber attack has hit the Australian Channel Nine’s live broadcasts causing the disruption of its operations. The broadcaster was unable to air its Sunday morning news program, which runs from 7:00 am to 1:00 pm from Sidney.

The 5:00pm news program, which is transmitted from Melbourne, did not go to air too.

“We wish to inform you there has been a cyber attack on our systems which has disrupted live broadcasts out of Nine Sydney,” reads an email sent by the company to staff. “Our IT teams are working around the clock to fully restore our systems which have primarily affected our broadcast and corporate business units.”

The company confirmed that the unprecedented cyberattack impacted the Nine IT network, while its email systems did not appear to be affected.

The internal staff worked hard to resume the normal broadcast schedule, the 6:00 pm news program went regularly to air from the studio in Melbourne. The broadcaster hopes to completely resume all its programs by Monday morning, meantime it asked its personnel to work from home.

“A source, who did not want to be identified as he was not allowed to speak to media, said Nine management had informed staff that a “malicious” cyber attack was suspected to be the cause.” reported ABC news. “The Australian Financial Review, which is also owned by Nine, also reported that the media company was likely the target of a cyber attack, the effects of which could last beyond Sunday.”

In an update to Melbourne viewers, Nine’s Alicia Loxley confirmed that the broadcaster was hit with a massive ransomware attack.

“Cyber hackers have targeted Channel Nine in a massive ransomware attack bringing down its network Australia-wide. No-one has claimed responsibility for the bug but IT experts are working to bring systems back on-line.” said Loxley.

According to TV Blackbox, the attacks launched by Russian hackers with the intent to prevent that Monday’s episode of Under Investigation, which focuses on Russian president Vladimir Putin, will go to air.

However, the episode of Under Investigation is pre-recorded and will go to air as planned on Monday.

A circumstance that suggests that Channel Nine was the victim of a retaliatory act is that sources told TV Blackbox there have been no demands for money, and this is very unusual for a ransomware attack.

If you want to receive the weekly Security Affairs Newsletter for free subscribe here.

Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook

[adrotate banner=”9″]

[adrotate banner=”12″]

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Channel Nine)

[adrotate banner=”5″]

[adrotate banner=”13″]

Pierluigi Paganini

Pierluigi Paganini is member of the ENISA (European Union Agency for Network and Information Security) Threat Landscape Stakeholder Group and Cyber G7 Group, he is also a Security Evangelist, Security Analyst and Freelance Writer. Editor-in-Chief at "Cyber Defense Magazine", Pierluigi is a cyber security expert with over 20 years experience in the field, he is Certified Ethical Hacker at EC Council in London. The passion for writing and a strong belief that security is founded on sharing and awareness led Pierluigi to find the security blog "Security Affairs" recently named a Top National Security Resource for US. Pierluigi is a member of the "The Hacker News" team and he is a writer for some major publications in the field such as Cyber War Zone, ICTTF, Infosec Island, Infosec Institute, The Hacker News Magazine and for many other Security magazines. Author of the Books "The Deep Dark Web" and “Digital Virtual Currency and Bitcoin”.