SPH Media hit by cyberattacks, breach affects 9 per cent of database

SPH Media has been hit by cyberattacks affecting about nine per cent of its database, with no payment card details or financial information compromised.

The media company said on Tuesday (Nov 10) that it had identified attacks on five of its systems, with the first incident detected on Nov 4 and the latest on Nov 8.

The exposed information consisted mainly of email addresses, as well as some names, mailing addresses and phone numbers, The Straits Times reported.

No customer accounts were compromised, and no corporate customers' information was affected, but some email addresses of employees were exposed.

Attacks suspected to be AI-enabled

Preliminary investigations suggest that the incidents were part of a coordinated effort by the same threat actor, potentially involving artificial intelligence-enabled attacks, the report said.

The Business Times reported that unauthorised access was detected on two portals used by staff and vendors supporting subscriber orders.

SPH Media said the breaches resulted from a combination of factors, including software bugs and system configuration issues.

SPH Media takes steps to secure systems

It took immediate steps to secure the affected systems and engaged external cybersecurity experts to investigate and contain the breaches.

It also reported the incidents to the Personal Data Protection Commission, Cyber Security Agency of Singapore and Infocomm Media Development Authority, and lodged a police report.

The company has since applied software fixes, updated its system configurations and strengthened its security defences to prevent further attempts to exploit vulnerabilities.

AsiaOne has reached out to SPH Media for more information. 

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asyiqin.nadzri@asiaone.com