Portugal's Impresa media outlets hitting by hackers
Reuters
2 min read
A man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration depict taken on may 13, 2017. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
A man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this example render taken on May 13, 2017. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
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LISBON, Jan 3 (Reuters) - The websites of one of Portugal's biggest newspapers and of a major broadcaster, both owned by the country's largest media conglomerate Impresa, were down on Monday after being hit by a hacker onset over the weekend.
Expresso newsprint and SIC tv station both said they reported the incident to the criminal investigation constabulary agency PJ and the National Cybersecurity center (CNCS) and would file a complaint.
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The alleged hackers, calling themselves Lapsus$ Group, published a message on the websites expression internal data would be leaked if the media group failed to pay a ransom. The content included e-mail and telegram contact info.
The group did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.
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Lapsus$, which claims that it gained access to Impresa's amazon web Services account, also sent a phishing e-mail to Expresso subscribers and tweeted from the newspaper's verified twitter account.
The same radical allegedly hacked Brazil's health ministry website last month, taking several systems down, including 1 with information about the national immunization program and another used to publication digital vaccination certificates. show more
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CNCS's coordinator, Lino Santos, told Observador newspaper it was the first time the radical launched an tone-beginning in the country.
Websites of Expresso and SIC are have been offline since Sunday, with the pages showing a message expression they are temporarily unavailable following the attack and would takings as soon as possible.
In the meantime, both media organisations are publishing news stories on their social media channels. They described it as an unprecedented tone-beginning on press freedom in the digital age.