Very often lately, we hear about cyber attacks. News about such incidents is widely publicized. That’s hardly remarkable, given that sensitive information has landed on the street, personal information is stolen, a company is completely shut down and small or larger sums are required in exchange for data release. In short, the economic and social impact is high.
Recently, Petya dominated the news. Among others, the Maersk terminal in the Port of Rotterdam was hit, as well as TNT Post. The first days after the outbreak, there were more than six thousand articles and posts about this virus, as evidenced by the analysis of our online and offline media monitoring tools.
Media covered, among other things, the cause, the victims, and the associated economic damage, the modest amount of money the hackers demanded and the peculiarities of the attack. Also noticeable was the fact that many security experts and security companies jumped on the news. For example, we saw comments from spokespersons from Kaspersky, Fox-IT, DearBytes, ESET and Comae. Kaspersky dominated the news with around 180 articles. The national newspaper De Telegraaf had a different approach and talked to internet lawyer Christiaan Alberdingk Thijm at Bureau Brandeis. He pointed out these attacks are a trend and urged companies to take measures as quickly as possible to improve their digital security. As of May, next year, the new General Data Protection Regulation will take effect.
A survey of the Dutch news and tech news Progress Communications recently conducted, shows that newsjacking is very popular. That also applied to the Petya attack. Many journalists said that after the attack they very quickly received security editorial contributions from security providers. These companies offered a blog, a press release, or an offer for an interview with an expert. Sometimes these contributions were published. But most journalists indicated that they have a wide range of contacts themselves and will talk to them for comment. Some sought collaboration with other media to publish as quickly and fully as possible.