A ransomware attack is delaying some comic book shipments in the US.
On Sunday, Maryland-based Diamond Comic Distributors reported it had suffered a ransomware attack that temporarily took down the company’s website and disrupted its ability to process customer orders.
“Due to the system issues we’re experiencing, some customer shipments of product with an on-sale date of November 10 will be delayed,” the company wrote in an update on Monday.
Diamond Comic Distributors is a top middleman for transporting Marvel, Dark Horse, and Image comics to retail stores, so the disruption risks impacting numerous markets. The affected shipments currently include comics bound for drop points in Baltimore, Boston, and Dallas. The delays will also ensnare some comic book orders sent via UPS and to markets overseas.
Diamond Comic Distributors has yet to provide details about the attack, such as which ransomware strain was involved. On Sunday, it said only that “These attacks have, unfortunately, become increasingly pervasive in recent months, impacting organizations around the world.”
Ransomware attacks can often arrive through malware-laced phishing emails or by exploiting vulnerabilities in online systems. The hackers will then seek to spread the ransomware infection to internal IT systems with the goal of encrypting as much information as possible. To free the computers, a victim will have to pay up, usually in Bitcoin.
Whether Diamond Comic Distributors received and paid any ransom is unclear. But the company said in an update on Sunday: “We want to assure you that customer data and financial information is not stored on our network and as such we have no reason to believe it has been impacted by this attack. In addition to the investigation underway by our team of third-party forensic experts, we’ve also notified law enforcement.”
“While some of our systems remain down, rest assured we are continuing to ship product and fill orders to the greatest extent we can,” the statement added.
We’ve reached out to Diamond Comic Distributors’s parent company for comment, and we’ll update the story if we hear back.
