Attackers target Entercom radio network, yet again

• In some cases, the stations were apparently forced to run recorded programs.
• In the first attack in September, Entercom reported a loss of $400,000 in revenue.

Entercom, which has more than 235 radio stations and over 170 million listeners every month, suffered another security incident within a few months.

What happened?

In the first attack in September, Entercom had reported a loss of $400,000 in revenue.

• Attackers targeted the radio network and affected its back-office functions.
• Though a less severe attack, it caused a temporary outage of the systems too.
• In some cases, the stations were apparently forced to run recorded programs.
• There were connectivity problems that disabled email communication and access to the content for digital platforms.

“Entercom has confirmed it suffered a disruption to its IT systems over the weekend and says the issues were largely resolved by Monday morning.” reads a post on Insideradio. “Entercom isn’t commenting on the specifics of the weekend outage and whether it involved a cyber-attack into encrypted servers. According to various reports, the company had connectivity issues that affected email, access to files and content for the company’s digital platforms.”

Recovery from the incident

The operations were fully restored on the next day of the incident. However, experts reported that users in some markets were still not able to import music logs and other content.

“During Entercom’s third-quarter results call, CFO Richard Schmaeling said the September breach incurred $1 million in costs and $400,000 in lost revenues. To safeguard the company from future attacks, the company, increased its IT CapEx investment by about $2 million,” reported InsideRadio.

But, it is not clear if the short storage time was the result of additional security measures after the first incident.

It is also alleged that the attackers had demanded a ransom of $500,000 to decrypt Entercom's files in the September attack. No sources confirmed whether the company paid or not to have their data restored.