IT & OT Attack forces Macmillan Publishers to Take Operations Offline and Close Physical Offices
Book publisher Macmillan has been hit with what it describes as a “digital security incident”, with experts believing it could be ransomware. According to emails seen by Publishers Weekly, the publisher initially said that a portion of the company’s files had become encrypted and that it had taken all of its systems offline to prevent further compromise. The company’s US sales team confirmed that it was unable to process, receive, place, or ship orders as a result of the company-wide shut down of digital systems and physical offices. The attack also impacted its U.K. branch, known as Pan Macmillan.
The company declined to answer further questions on the nature of the incident or how its systems were compromised, the use of encryption by the hackers indicates that it was ransomware. The attack has not yet been claimed by any major ransomware groups, and it remains unclear whether any sensitive data was stolen.
WSJ reported on July 6 "Macmillan Says Retailers Can Again Order Its Books After Recent Cyberattack" and doesn't anticipate having to change the publishing date of any of its books.
Incident Date
June 25, 2022
Location
Estimated Cost
"Days" long outage reported.