Nine hit by cyber attack as massive IT crash brings network down
Nine staff were told to work from home after being hit by a cyber attack, which brought down its entire network and killed live programs.
Channel 9’s live shows were wiped from TV Sunday morning after a confirmed cyber attack on the network.
The channel was unable to go live with Weekend Today with the show’s hosts taking to Twitter to question what was going on.
Nine director of people and culture Vanessa Morley told The Age the crash was caused by a cyber attack, with the reason behind the incident currently unclear.
“We wish to inform you there has been a cyber-attack on our systems which has disrupted live broadcasts out of Nine Sydney (1 Denison). Our IT teams are working around the clock to fully restore our systems, which have primarily affected our Broadcast and Corporate business units,” Ms Morley said.
“Publishing and Radio systems continue to be operational. While our IT teams work through this issue, we ask that all employees, in all markets, work from home until further notice.”
What’s happening? Well not much right now! Tech issues â¦@Channel9â© this morning... pic.twitter.com/yvHBbxdbGC
— Richard Wilkins (@RichardWilkins) March 27, 2021
The publication reports Nine staff were told to work from home.
Live programming was later restored.
Earlier, the network said its team was frantically working to fix the technical issues and its usual shows of Weekend Today and Sports Sunday would not go to air.
The channel aired prerecorded programs until at least 1pm to give them time to fix the technical issues.
Our teams are working to fix this morning’s technical issues and will return to normal broadcasts as soon as possible. In the meantime, today’s programming changes for @Channel9:
— Channel9 (@Channel9) March 27, 2021
9.00am Taronga
10.00am The Sunday Footy Show
12.00pm Tipping Point
1.00pm Women’s Footy https://t.co/q86KrYcMRQ
We’ve also got plenty of great shows and series streaming on @9Now for you to watch this morning so check them out: https://t.co/uZjrapQJXmhttps://t.co/iPoY3CyKeY
— 9Now (@9Now) March 27, 2021
Sources told TV Blackbox that the problems were nationwide and had hit live programming across Australia.
The technical issues also meant the network was unable to prep each program, which threw the channel’s 6pm news bulletin into question.
“Nine is responding to technical issues affecting live broadcasting. At this stage we are working through the impacts across the network and will provide an update as we resolve the systems,” a spokesperson said earlier.
“NRL, 6pm News Bulletins and our evening schedule will proceed as normal.”
Entertainment reporter Peter Ford had said engineers were investigating if the issue was a cyber attack.
Word from inside is it’s being investigated as possible cyber attack.... https://t.co/kjYIaN9pSg
— Peter Ford (@mrpford) March 27, 2021
