Malware Attack Hobbles West Coast Newspaper Print Editions

LOS ANGELES, CA —A suspected foreign malware virus affected the West Coast distribution of several major U.S. papers from the Los Angeles Times to the The New York Times Saturday preventing them from publishing print editions.

The Los Angeles Times announced the attack in its online edition at 4:55 p.m., noting the cyberattack "appears to have originated from outside the United States." Other major papers affected include the San Diego Union-Tribune, and the Southern California editions of the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

The Times "is investigating whether the computer problems were the result of a cyberattack by a third party," the paper announced. The virus caused production problems at the California Times printing plant in downtown Los Angeles, where the Times is printed.

The attack seems to have begun Thursday night, and it was detected by Friday. Technology teams made significant progress in fixing the problem, but were unable to clear all systems before press time, according to the LA Times. The paper reported that all publications within The Times' former parent company, Tribune Publishing, had problems with print production Saturday. Tribune Publishing sold The Times and the San Diego Union-Tribune to Los Angeles biotech billionaire Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong in June, but the companies continue to share various systems, including software.

"Every market across the company was impacted," said Marisa Kollias, spokesperson for Tribune Publishing. That includes: The Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun, Annapolis Capital-Gazette, Hartford Courant, New York Daily News, Orlando Sentinel and Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel.

The problem was expected to be fixed Saturday evening. Subscribers would didn't get their Saturday paper will receive receive it with their regularly scheduled delivery of the Sunday edition.

The Times' story said it was "unclear whether the company has been in contact with law enforcement regarding the suspected attack."

A spokeswoman at the FBI's Los Angeles field office would neither confirm nor deny that the agency is investigating the apparent attack.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report; Photo: (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)