Crims stole 40,000 people's data from our network, admits publisher Lee Enterprises

Regional newspaper publisher Lee Enterprises says data belonging to around 40,000 people was stolen during an attack on its network earlier this year.

The Iowa-based company confirmed first and last names, as well as social security numbers, were among the data types potentially accessed, although it does not think any of it has been misused.

According to letters being sent to the 39,779 affected individuals, the data concerns "certain employees."

It did not mention newspaper subscribers being affected, but according to company workers' unions, Lee Enterprises has cut jobs at various points over the past few years. Axios also reported in 2022 that around 400 jobs were cut, which represented around 10 percent of the company's workforce.

Given that the company doesn't appear to employ anywhere close to 40,000 people, The Register asked Lee Enterprises whether customer or former employee data was impacted, but it ...