Townsquare Media has suffered what is being described as a minor ransomware cyberattack.
However, it is the second time that the local media company that owns radio stations and offers digital media opportunities has been targeted.
As first reported by Streamline Publishing’s Radio Ink, the ALPHV hacker group claims to have gained unauthorized access to 251GB of Townsquare’s data, including files from the company’s servers and workstations. The ransomware specifically targeted files created within the past year, according to The Cyber Express.
The breach’s severity was emphasized by including 19 attachments in the threat actor’s post, shared on Twitter by Falcon Feed, a threat intelligence service. The ALPHV group has issued an ultimatum, demanding that Townsquare Media establish contact within a week to resolve the alleged misunderstanding and prevent the public release of the stolen data.
The ransomware incident follows an April 2019 incident involving “crypto locker encryption malware,” which disrupted some of the company’s station operations.
The ALPHV ransomware attack adds Townsquare Media to the group’s growing list of victims, underscoring the ongoing threat faced by radio broadcasters and the media industry as a whole.
