The Philadelphia Inquirer’s May 2023 cyberattack disrupted production of its regular Sunday print edition, but the newsroom kept publishing online using workarounds. A later investigation found that personal information belonging to about 25,500 people may have been exposed. The Inquirer said it found no evidence that the information had been misused for identity theft or fraud.
What happened to The Philadelphia Inquirer?
The Inquirer said its network-security vendor, Cynet, alerted the company to anomalous activity on Thursday, May 11, 2023. The company found unusual activity on selected computer systems and took those systems offline. By Saturday morning, a skeleton staff discovered that it could not access the newsroom’s content-management system.
News staff set up workarounds within hours and continued posting articles online, although updates sometimes moved more slowly than usual. Employees stayed out of the newsroom for several days while systems were restored and the incident investigated. The disruption came days before Philadelphia’s Democratic mayoral primary.
The Inquirer described the incident as its greatest publication disruption since the blizzard of January 7–8, 1996. That is the newspaper’s comparison, not an independently measured ranking of disruptions.
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Why was the Sunday print edition affected?
The newsroom’s loss of access to systems prevented it from producing the regular Sunday newspaper. Subscribers received the early edition, which had been composed on Friday. The Sunday edition was available in the newspaper’s digital replica, and online news publishing continued through workarounds.
The Inquirer reported that Monday’s editions would be printed and delivered. Classified advertisements, including death notices, were postponed until Wednesday.
Was the attack ransomware, and who was behind it?
A ransomware group calling itself Cuba claimed responsibility and alleged it had stolen Inquirer files. It later removed the claim from its website. At the time, the Inquirer said it had seen no evidence that company-related information had been shared online. The FBI acknowledged awareness of the incident but declined to comment on it specifically.
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The Cuba group’s statement does not establish who carried out the attack. In 2024, publisher and CEO Lisa Hughes said the lengthy investigation could not identify the person or people responsible or their motives. Public reporting does not establish the initial-access method, what malware was used against the Inquirer, whether particular systems were encrypted, whether a ransom demand was made, or whether a ransom was paid.
As background, the Inquirer reported in 2023 that FBI and Department of Homeland Security alerts attributed at least 100 cyberattacks and $60 million in extorted funds to the Cuba group. Those figures concern the group, not the Inquirer incident.
Was subscriber or employee information exposed?
Yes. On April 26, 2024, the Inquirer reported that personal information belonging to about 25,500 people may have been exposed. Potentially affected people included subscribers, current and former employees, and employees’ family members covered by company benefit plans. The settlement FAQ describes an approximately 25,549-person class.
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The potentially accessed information included Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, financial-account information, and medical information. The Inquirer said outside cybersecurity experts found no evidence that the information had been misused for identity theft or fraud. It said potentially affected people would receive notice and be offered credit monitoring and identity-restoration services.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What should people know about the settlement?
The settlement FAQ describes credit monitoring and insurance services, reimbursement for certain documented losses, and a cash-fund payment option for eligible class members. The documented-loss claim deadline listed in the FAQ was February 27, 2025, and has passed. Check the settlement administrator’s current information for any status updates; do not assume that a claim route remains open.
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What did the Inquirer change after the incident?
The 2023 reporting said the Inquirer did not require multifactor authentication for many key systems at that time. In 2024, the newspaper said it had since required multifactor authentication on its systems. The public account does not provide a complete technical postmortem or establish that any particular missing or later-added control would have prevented this attack.
In the 2023 report, digital-security researcher Runa Sandvik said newsroom security requires leadership planning and investment, and warned that defenses cannot be secured or cleaned up overnight. Her comments were general expert guidance, not an assessment of which Inquirer controls failed. University of Pittsburgh cyber-law expert David J. Hickton offered a broader caution: “In the context of hacking, what we used to say 10 years ago still applies: There are those who have been hacked and those who think they have not been hacked.”
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