Media monitoring chaos wreaked by cyber attack, PR industry reels

Onclusive, a media monitoring firm that provides services to PR firms in the UK, has been hit by a cyber attack. The incident occurred on 6 February and has affected the company’s production systems, preventing the delivery of media monitoring services. Onclusive CEO Rob Stone confirmed that a ransomware cyber attack had taken place, but stressed that there was no evidence of compromised data and that the company’s customer relationship management systems had not been affected. It is unclear how many customers have been affected by the attack, as not all were notified by the company. Stone assured customers that efforts were underway to resolve the issue and restore normal service as soon as possible. However, an update issued to customers stated that the severity of the attack was expected to disrupt deliveries. Onclusive, which was formerly known as Kantar Reputation Intelligence, was acquired by Symphony Technology Group in January 2022.