Newsquest websites hit by virus hijacking thousands of users’ browsers
Hundreds of thousands of visitors to Newsquest’s local news sites have been caught up in a nasty cyber attack, insiders reveal. A sneaky virus has infiltrated Newsquest’s servers, hijacking users’ phones and browsers. Visitors are greeted with a strange “thank you for your loyalty” message before being redirected to scam prize websites.
Virus redirects users to fake prize sites
The malicious code takes control of browsers, sending users to unrelated prize offer pages promising bogus wins. The only way to escape the scam is by shutting down the browser or restarting the device. The virus affected many of Newsquest’s 218 newspaper sites, causing widespread disruption.
Timing suspicious ahead of readership figures
The attack surfaced on Thursday morning, just hours before Newsquest was due to release its latest readership stats. Some titles are bracing for sharp drops, with losses of nearly 8% expected. Tech teams are scrambling to identify the security breach and patch the vulnerability in the group’s defences.
Newsquest denies mass breach despite the chaos
An internal source admitted Newsquest spent heavily on firewalls but the breach has left them “red faced.” The firm has been tight-lipped about whether any user data was compromised.
Julian Thorpe, Editorial Product Manager at Newsquest Digital, stated: “It is inaccurate to claim hundreds of thousands of web users were affected. The site in question has not been hijacked or compromised.”
Newsquest confirmed they are aware of the issue but deny any data breach and refused to reveal the cause.
