Local British News Sites Targeted in Coordinated Cyber Campaign

Dozens of regional titles owned by Newsquest were targeted in a coordinated cyber campaign over the weekend. The news sites were defaced with stories entitled “Pervoklassniy Russian Hackers Attack”, which were accompanied by a black and white logo. The articles were attributed in Russian script to an author named “Daniel Hopkins”.

Another story, which appeared on the Bolton News website, showed a picture of the Russian flag alongside the headline: “Our president has gone crazy, shock content.” The articles, which first appeared over the weekend, have since been taken down.

A Newsquest spokesman said: “For a brief period on Saturday 11th May, a limited amount of unauthorized content was posted to Newsquest sites. We acted immediately and removed the content with no further disruption.”

Estimated Cost

No cost values disclosed.

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