Computer Virus Hits Newspapers Coast-to-Coast, Affects Printing (nbcnews.com)

A computer virus hit newspaper printing plants in Los Angeles and at Tribune Publishing newspapers across the country. From a report: Tribune Publishing said Saturday night that malware affected its ability to print newspapers across its chain of outlets, including the Chicago Tribune, the New York Daily News, the Baltimore Sun and the Orlando Sentinel. Many subscribers to the Los Angeles Times and San Diego Union-Tribune, which were previously owned by Tribune Publishing and still share some production technology with the company, stepped into a chilly sunny morning Saturday only to find empty doorsteps. The computer malware was detected Friday and "impacted some back-office systems which are primarily used to publish and produce newspapers across our properties," said Marisa Kollias, Tribune communications vice president, in a statement.

Comments

I subscribe to one of their papers

[OffTheLip]

My Sunday morning paper came with two middle sections and no front section. Can I blame the malware for that or should I assume it's the fading newspaper business as a whole?

Newspaper?

[olsmeister]

Is that like a paper version of Twitter?

Re: Newspaper?

[nsuccorso]

No, youâ(TM)ll find that in a roll next to your toilet.

Paper

[puddingebola]

Hasn't purchasing paper newspapers become somewhat obsolete? I'm sure some significant percentage of a newspapers revenue is still from paper sales, but it's kind of a luxury now. With my local paper, it's $2.50 for a paper copy, it's $3 per week for an online subscription.

Re:Paper

[DontBeAMoran]

Don't you people get tons of store flyers printed on paper like us in Canada?

The virus Also affected some web versions

[williamyf]

Specificaly:

"The digital replica edition of the Union-Tribune was also affected. The company is working to restore that version this morning."

Granted, you could use the web to get your information and news somewhere else...

But, if for whatever reason you were a subscriber of the SD union tribune, and/or wanted to see the SD union tribune, the web was not there to save the day.

Source:
https://www.sandiegouniontribu...

I find it kind of funny

[fustakrakich]

You know, knocking out propaganda outlets and all, but this is another reason not to have monopolies. A single virus with a short list of targets will burn down the whole house.

Not to worry

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

Not to worry- the virus only attacks prestigious, well-regarded publishers, so Slashdot is safe. :)

(I'm kidding, kidding I tell you!)

"Anti-Russian! Anti-Russian! WAAAAAAH!!"

[benjfowler]

Anybody noticed the trolls shitposting about ANTI RUSSIAN sentiment lately?

Do NOT be misled: opposing Vladimir Putin and his vile policies is NOT racist.

The world got wise to the troll's "Russophobia" line -- it was invented by 19th century Russian racists to smear Jews, and was transformed into a general sledge against opponents of Russian fascism and criminality on the Internet. They got laughed out. Now Russian trolls have taken to the term "fascist" and "anti-Russian".

This is highly dishonest, because Putin-regime apologists want to confuse dislike of Vladimir Putin and his vicious criminal imperialism with hatred of Russians in general, which is dishonest in the extreme.

If you see this trolling and misrepresentation, don't be misled: being against Putin is NOT racist.

Re:"Anti-Russian! Anti-Russian! WAAAAAAH!!"

[benjfowler]

Por que no los dos?

Re:"Anti-Russian! Anti-Russian! WAAAAAAH!!"

[benjfowler]

So, you are making the bold claim that Putin IS Russia? That I am a racist for opposing Vladimir Putin's problematic policies and behaviour? That I dislike his bullying and dirty tricks?

"L'Etat c'cest moi!!"

Do you have ANY idea how arrogant that sounds?

Re:"Anti-Russian! Anti-Russian! WAAAAAAH!!"

[benjfowler]

LOL.

If you're a black guy from Chicago, then I'm the Queen of fucking Sheba.

Nice try, bot.

The Cancer that's killing the Internet

[Rick Schumann]

I'm starting to think that cyberwarfare and cybercrime are what will really be what kills the Internet once and for all. How can we continue having a 'free and open Internet' when it's weaponized like this, and apparently nothing can stop it?

Re:The Cancer that's killing the Internet

[StormReaver]

...and apparently nothing can stop it?

Are you serious? Stupid shit like this is EASILY preventable, but stupid people doing stupid things MAKE this happen. Normally, I wouldn't be promoting blaming the victims. But this isn't a case of the newpapers being victims of outsiders, despite outsiders having written the virus. This is a case of the newspapers doing it to themselves.

After all these years, there is NO REASON for business operations getting viruses. If they are still getting viruses on their business computers, it is their own fault. I have ZERO sympathy for them. They knew the risks, and they ignored them. It's like jumping off a tall cliff, ignoring warnings of dire consequences, then complaining when they're in traction. It's their own damn fault.

Re:The Cancer that's killing the Internet

[Rick Schumann]

Yeah sure. It's all wreaking havoc, costing everyone millions of dollars, but they're clearly and objectively sitting on their hands and not doing anything about it. Sure. {citation needed}

What ever you do don't mention Windows :]

[najajomo]

It's tech reporting like this that keeps me coming back to the slashdot. Would this “computer” by any chance be running Microsoft Windows? What the fuck is the point of running a technology blog if you won't supply any technical information? Let me guess, opening an email attachment triggered a macro in a Microsoft Word file ..

Programmers worked to isolate the bug

I would have thought the solution would be to patch the OS then deploy the patched OS to the desktops.

Re: One word ...

[poemtree]

Windows

Shudder!

[Wizardess]

Think of all the bird cages left unlined and dogs left untrained by the lack of the cherished tools published by LATimes et al.
{O.O}

Newspaper printing?

[roc97007]

Is that still a thing?