A Dutch TV and radio broadcaster has discovered itself on the mercy of cybercriminals after struggling a cyber assault, and leaving it scrambling to seek out methods to play music to its listeners.
RTV Noord, which supplies TV and radio programming within the northern province of Groningen within the Netherlands, found it had been hacked on November 6, 2025.
On Thursday morning, workers on the “De Ochtendploeg” breakfast present found their entry to pc techniques was blocked, forcing them to resort to manually enjoying CDs, and even placing LP vinyl information on a turntable to maintain listeners entertained.
By the next morning, the broadcaster had begun publishing updates on its information web site and app once more – for “extraordinarily main information” not less than.
Though the exact nature of the hack in opposition to RTV Noord has not been disclosed, it might be a courageous one that guess in opposition to it being a ransomware assault.
RTV Noord confirmed that the attackers left a message on its community, although it has not been made public.
Given the disruption and the pattern in related incidents, the apparent suspicion is that this was a ransom word demanding fee for decryption or to forestall stolen information being leaked.
That being stated, it is all the time doable that whoever has compromised the broadcaster has not completed so with a monetary motivation. Up to now, as an illustration, there have been TV and radio stations which have discovered themselves hacked for political causes.
No matter motive, hacking a broadcaster can have severe repercussions which transcend the monetary. RTV Noord isn’t just offering tv and radio providers to the native inhabitants – it additionally acts as an official emergency broadcaster that gives data to residents within the occasion of a catastrophe or disaster.
In a quick assertion, RTV Noord stated that its newsroom may solely be “reached through WhatsApp” — a transparent indication that inner communications techniques had been both inaccessible or untrustworthy throughout the incident.
Coincidentally – or maybe not – the assault on RTV Noord turned public on the identical day that the Rhysida ransomware gang claimed duty for an assault on Spanish radio station KISS-FM, providing its stolen information for about US $300,000 value of Bitcoin.
Broadcasters like RTV Noord have more and more turn into focused by cybercriminals hoping to amplify their notoriety. In previous years related assaults have managed to impression many different stations, typically even knocking programmes off the airwaves, or broadcasting bogus warnings about missile strikes.
Broadcast infrastructure is each public-facing and time-critical. Even short-term disruption is reputationally damaging and might cascade into real-world hurt, particularly when broadcasters have emergency notification obligations. And that’s precisely the sort of leverage {that a} ransomware group likes to have at its disposal.
