Area residents who typically receive the Philadelphia Inquirer on their driveways on Sundays were left without one this week.
A reported cyberattack left print readers without the newspaper as the cyberattack impacted the company’s ability to print the edition.
The newspaper stated the incident was the most substantial disruption in print in 27 years.
The Philadelphia Inquirer continued to publish online throughout the weekend.
Inquirer publisher Lisa Hughes, in response to inquiries from the paper’s newsroom, expressed gratitude for the public’s patience and understanding during this challenging time. However, she was unable to provide an exact timeline for full restoration of the newspaper’s systems, according to the Associated Press.
The cyberattack came to light late last week, but employees discovered the impact to publication on Saturday morning that the newspaper’s content management system was malfunctioning. Hughes revealed that upon detecting anomalous activity on select computer systems, immediate measures were taken to take those systems offline, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The last major disruption to print operations happened during a massive blizzard in January 1996.
The timing of the incident is noteworthy as it occurred just ahead of a mayoral primary election scheduled for Tuesday. The newspaper will continue to report on the high-profile election.
To mitigate the effects of the cyberattack, The Philadelphia Inquirer employees have been prohibited from using the offices until at least Tuesday, reports said.
The FBI is reported to be working with the newspaper to investigate the cyberattack.
The newspaper, which is owned by the nonprofit Lenfest Institute, said they print 265,000 copies on Sundays.
