A ransomware attack forced publishing giant Macmillan to shuts down its systems

A cyber attack forced the American publishing giant Macmillan to shut down its IT systems.

The publishing giant Macmillan has been hit by a cyberattack that forced the company to shut down its IT infrastructure to prevent the threat from spreading within its network.

The company spokesman Erin Coffey told different media outlets that attackers have encrypted certain files on the Macmillan network. This info leads the experts into believing that the company was the victim of a ransomware attack, but at this time it has yet to be claimed by any ransomware gangs.

The attack took place on June 25, the security breach also impacted the U.K. branch Pan Macmillan, it is still unclear if the company was also the victim of a data breach.

“As a precautionary measure, we immediately took systems offline to prevent further impact to our network,” Coffey said. “We are working diligently with specialists to investigate the source of this issue, understand its impact on our systems, and to restore full functionality to our networks as soon as possible.

Macmillan is investigating the incident, the company also closed its virtual and physical offices in New York.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, ransomware)

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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”.