Media monitoring firm Isentia hit by cyber attack

Tuesday, 27 October 2020

Popular media-monitoring service Isentia has been impacted by a cyber attack.

The Australian company provides an online service that is widely used by businesses and public sector agencies in New Zealand and Australia to keep tabs on media coverage in their areas of interest.

Isentia said in a statement to the ASX that it was “urgently investigating a cyber security incident” that was impacting its cloud-based platform, Mediaportal.

A spokeswoman was not immediately able to clarify whether it was the subject of a denial-of-service attack or some other intrusion.

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Chief executive Ed Harrison said in a statement that Isentia was taking “urgent steps to contain the incident” and avoid a repeat.

“Our priority is to restore full service as soon as possible but until that occurs, we have put processes in place to support our customers,” he said.

Isentia’s New Zealand arm reported a profit of $1.7 million on sales of $11.5m in the year to June last year.