PressReader, the technology partner of the Times Free Press, said recently a system failure that shut down its operation worldwide was the result of a ransomware attack.
Canada-based PressReader reported a disruption of its service on March 2.
The company said it saw suspicious activity and brought all sites and apps, as well as PressReader, offline for 24 hours as a defensive measure while it began an investigation.
The network outage affected numerous sites and apps, including the Times Free Press mobile and iPad apps.
PressReader said it restored some services to some customers as early as March 3.