KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 5): A ransomware attack on the Guardian has hobbled the London-based news-organisation’s basic operations, shutting down everything from its office Wi-Fi to the tills in the staff canteen.

In a report on Thursday (Jan 5), US-based news website Semafor said the Guardian described the attack that began on Dec 20 as a “serious incident which has affected our information technology network and systems”.

The report added that the paper closed its offices, telling staff to work remotely for several days around the Christmas holiday.

But in a memo to employees this week, chief executive Anna Bateson said that the company’s offices will remain closed until at least Jan 23.

Two Guardian staffers told Semafor that a tiny skeleton crew continued to go into the London office.

The staffer told Semafor that the print paper nearly did not come out on the first couple of days following the hack, and remains a heavy lift.

The staffer said the paper had nearly missed its payroll, while there also remains a concern that some files that were in production were either lost or impacted by the breach.

Meanwhile, the paper’s email and digital publishing systems are operating normally.

But some of the more antiquated systems, including company expenses and some elements of print production, remain buggy.

Columnist picture bylines have disappeared in print for the moment as a result of the hack, a blow for some of the egos of the paper's opinion writers.