Washington Post Targeted in Oracle Cyber Breach

The Washington Post confirmed on Thursday that it was among more than 100 companies targeted in a widespread cyber breach involving Oracle's E-Business Suite software, a platform used by businesses to manage operations, human resources, and sensitive data. The newspaper's disclosure follows claims by the ransomware group Cl0p, which added the Post to its data leak site, alleging the organization ignored security warnings after refusing to pay an extortion demand.

The breach campaign, which security researchers believe began as early as July, exploited a zero-day remote code execution vulnerability in versions 12.2.3 through 12.2.14 of Oracle's E-Business Suite. Hackers gained unauthorized access to systems, stealing large volumes of customer and employee data from affected organizations. Oracle issued a patch for the flaw in early October, urging users to update immediately, and acknowledged in security advisories that several customers had faced extortion attempts related to the incident.

Cl0p, a Russian-speaking cybercrime group active since 2020, claimed responsibility for the operation on its website. The group, known for high-profile ransomware attacks, began sending...