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25-66 impacted by Sinclair ransomware attack

Discussion pertaining to Flint, Saginaw, Bay City, Midland, Mt. Pleasant, and Michigan's thumb region.
User avatar
Herm
Posts: 285
Joined: Thu Jan 26, 2006 10:31 am

Re: 25-66 impacted by Sinclair ransomware attack

Unread post by Herm »

sinklair wrote: Wed Oct 20, 2021 6:47 am Herm, you jumped ship before Sinclair took over. Now you’re doing great at a much better operation. Good for you.

But I guarantee you that anyone that was at WEYI before Sinclair’s “hostile” takeover would disagree with you that Barrington was worse. Hell yeah, Barrington was run in the cheap. It forced us to put on an inferior product. But there were many great broadcast professionals (like you) that did some great work, sometimes in spite of the limitations we faced.

Fast forward to today. No one is proud to be associated with the crap we put on the air. People are looking to leave as soon as they can to get as far away as fast as possible from some of the worst management I’ve ever worked for. Trust me when I say morale on Pierson Road is the worst I’ve seen. That lands squarely on the handpicked Sinclair GM, the ASSistant GM/Promotions Director, the In Over Her Head News Director, the Director of Declining Sales, the HR Director/Grilled Cheese Party Planner and the other all-white station managers.

It’s comical watching our local engineers and IT deal with this latest Sinclair-made catastrophe. They’re frustrated and lashing out at us…

The fact is, Sinclair should have taken much more aggressive response after similar hacks at the Weather Channel and Cox Media. They didn’t. Sinclair believed their own press that they were well prepared and had sufficient security, policies and procedures. There was NO PLAN on how local stations were to respond to a failure of this magnitude. That’s why you continue to see stations fail to be able to put on regular programming.

Basic community cable access and student-run high school broadcasting channels are able to put on a more professional broadcast than Sinclair today.

Maybe instead of sitting on their piles of cash, CEO Chris the Ripper and Chairman/Lover of Prostitutes David Smith should invest in basic internet security programs. their stations and the people who are actually keeping us on the air.

Sinclair is rightfully so the laughing stock of the industry.

https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2021/ ... yberattack
Jumped ship? Please. I bailed water out of that ship for almost a decade and it sank while I was still on it.
I never said they were worse. I just said that Barrington didn’t care. They didn’t.
djb
Posts: 48
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 11:20 am

Re: 25-66 impacted by Sinclair ransomware attack

Unread post by djb »

As an IT Engineer whose sister company is a digital forensics investigation company - I have firsthand experience of a ransomware shitshow.

First and foremost - a forensics company is going to want to gather an "image" of EVERYTHING in time. This is to determine how the breach occurred, where it came from, and what can be done to close the hole(s) that allowed it to happen in the first place. (Sidenote: Office365 is A VERY EASY WAY IN! That's a different thing altogether).

While this "imaging" takes place - nothing can be online. This is to insure the infection doesn't spread further, and to make sure nothing gets changed so that the analysis actually has merit. Downfall to this is that NO ONE CAN WORK.

So, companies will generally take the stance of, "Let's start rebuilding with what we have while this imaging takes place". This creates a mad-dash for hardware, virtual resources, etc, etc. Active Directory is a typical starting point - get users authenticated back on the network. Get ready for new passwords, re-creating profiles, re-setting settings, etc, etc.

If the backups didn't get hit (ya'll are doing backups, correct?) - then a restore can get everything back up quickly; though all of the work performed after the backups ran will need to be re-done. If the backups got hit as well - back to starting from scratch.

In these situations, despite what the FBI and digital forensic companies will tell you - IT'S CHEAPER TO JUST PAY THE DAMN RANSOM. Spend two days decrypting everything, then back to business. As decryption is occurring, find out how the hell someone got into the network in the first place, and close the damn hole.

My bet is an Office365 account hack (if implemented), or someone/something with a really easy password. That printer you created an account for in 2009 so that it could scan documents to the network....with a username of "Printer" and Password of "Sc@nner".....
Martin Stett
Posts: 116
Joined: Sun Sep 06, 2020 1:01 pm

Re: 25-66 impacted by Sinclair ransomware attack

Unread post by Martin Stett »

I've been in the room:
IT guys: "The Titanium Grade Security is bulletproof. The NSA couldn't get through it. It costs more, but . .. "
Beancounters: "IT COSTS MORE?!?"
User avatar
NoozDude
Posts: 43
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 9:35 am
Location: Looking for Roadrunner

Re: 25-66 impacted by Sinclair ransomware attack

Unread post by NoozDude »

Realist
Posts: 1086
Joined: Wed Dec 13, 2006 10:36 pm
Location: Northern Michigan

Re: 25-66 impacted by Sinclair ransomware attack

Unread post by Realist »

NoozDude wrote: Wed Oct 20, 2021 4:44 pm The plot thickens?
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... -cybergang
Evil Corp.?

Sounds like a name out of a Austin Powers movie….
sinklair
Posts: 2261
Joined: Sun Dec 08, 2019 11:59 am

Re: 25-66 impacted by Sinclair ransomware attack

Unread post by sinklair »

Herm: not only did you bail water, you put out fires, and probably did at least 10 other jobs to keep broadcasts on the air at the old Willard Road facility.

However, there’s real concern about whether or not we’ll get paid (Sinclair says we will)… or how much of our personal data was compromised and is now out on the dark web (and information about our advertisers). That’s a whole new level of sh*tshow that didn’t exist under Barrington.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/busin ... 235033439/

Many of us are anxiously awaiting Sinclair’s quarterly earnings report to be released on November 3rd. Lots of VERY tough questions for CEO Chris the Ripper and Chief Bean Counter Lucy Rutishauser. Stock prices are expected to continue to take a hit due to SBG’s criminal mishandling of the ransomware attack and regional sports nets.
Last edited by sinklair on Thu Oct 21, 2021 2:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
matt1
Posts: 3219
Joined: Sun Apr 24, 2016 12:53 pm

Re: 25-66 impacted by Sinclair ransomware attack

Unread post by matt1 »

NO Tamron Hall, NO Entertainment Tonight & NO Inside Edition on NBC 25.
paul8539
Posts: 1177
Joined: Fri Dec 10, 2004 5:20 pm

Re: 25-66 impacted by Sinclair ransomware attack

Unread post by paul8539 »

OK, so the hackers got some data. The way the company is, what good will it do them?
sinklair
Posts: 2261
Joined: Sun Dec 08, 2019 11:59 am

Re: 25-66 impacted by Sinclair ransomware attack

Unread post by sinklair »

Paul: do you want Russian crime syndicate to have your personal financial information? I certainly don’t. That’s why it’s a big f’n deal to us Sinclair employees. But the company still hasn’t come clean about what info has been compromised.
Deleted User 15555

Re: 25-66 impacted by Sinclair ransomware attack

Unread post by Deleted User 15555 »

I wonder if they got through from an anchor Parler account.
Dudley
Posts: 165
Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2007 3:36 pm

Re: 25-66 impacted by Sinclair ransomware attack

Unread post by Dudley »

Hey Sinclare, All your rant about making it a better place and it is going down in flames! I am just laughing my ass off rolling on the floor. A big problem that I don't have to deal with any longer!
sinklair
Posts: 2261
Joined: Sun Dec 08, 2019 11:59 am

Re: 25-66 impacted by Sinclair ransomware attack

Unread post by sinklair »

WOHO: yep, Sinclair has decimated their stations with cutbacks in the name of efficiencies. Automation, hubbing, positions with multiple responsibilities means there is no longer a bench or the ability to respond when things go wrong on a daily basis. When you have a major issue like the ransomware attack, this is what you get. This week, Sinclair has lost tens of thousands of dollars to save pennies. That doesn’t even count on the ongoing loss of all credibility that we can’t put on a professional news product. Why would viewers ever turn to us? Why would advertisers ever spend money with us? And still silence from corporate and station management…
Realist
Posts: 1086
Joined: Wed Dec 13, 2006 10:36 pm
Location: Northern Michigan

Re: 25-66 impacted by Sinclair ransomware attack

Unread post by Realist »

It’s been a week now and there’s no sign of this issue being resolved. This situation totally and completely shows how incompetent Sinclair top management in Baltimore are. If they can’t run the basic operations of a TV station, then sell them…
DAC
Posts: 581
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2005 5:43 pm

Re: 25-66 impacted by Sinclair ransomware attack

Unread post by DAC »

matt1 wrote: Wed Oct 20, 2021 11:40 pm NO Tamron Hall, NO Entertainment Tonight & NO Inside Edition on NBC 25.
Um, well yeah. Didn't you read the article? Here it is again. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... -cybergang
MasterB
Posts: 1572
Joined: Sun Apr 23, 2006 2:59 pm
Location: Kalamazoo

Re: 25-66 impacted by Sinclair ransomware attack

Unread post by MasterB »

Big Bang is back on CW7 saw it just to see if it was back or not it was on Fri. No 10PM News they did air the 6PM News since CBS airs SEC games at 3:30PM. Sinclair will give extra pay for those working at the station and the hard work they have done to put on the news this past week. I haven't seen any problems at Bally Sports Detroit got all the graphics from what I have seen.
Go Pistons, Let's Go Redwings.
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