Guardian staff forced to work out of former brewery after ransomware attack

Staff at The Guardian have been forced to work out of a former brewery as a crippling ransomware attack heads into its third month.

The newspaper has taken up office space at the Phoenix Brewery in west London as its King’s Cross headquarters remains shuttered following the cyber attack.

Staff are said to be frustrated following an extended period of enforced working from home. 

But one journalist said the temporary offsite location, next to Westfield shopping centre, was inconvenient for the majority of staff who are used to commuting into north London.

Editor Kath Viner lives in west London after marrying Adrian Chiles, a broadcaster and Guardian columnist, last year. 

A source said Ms Viner and a small number of other employees had been working from the headquarters in King’s Cross for the vast majority of the time.

The Guardian has taken over the temporary office space from telecoms provider TalkTalk.

Chief executive Anna Bateson and her husband Max are personal friends with TalkTalk executive chairman Sir Charles Dunstone. One industry insider said the group had holidayed together on Sir Charles’ yacht.

The makeshift office arrangements come two months after The Guardian was hit by a ransomware attack that shut down many of the newspaper’s computer systems and forced it to close its building at Kings Place.

Hackers gained access to payroll data, meaning employees’ names, addresses, salaries and passport details have been exposed.

The Guardian has said hackers are most likely to have gained access to the information through a so-called phishing attack, which attempts to trick staff into clicking booby-trapped links.

While the company was initially concerned about an “attack on journalism” by a foreign state, it is understood this scenario is now considered unlikely.

It is not clear whether bosses have paid the ransom, but the incident has been reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office. The data watchdog has the power to fine The Guardian up to £17.5m if any failings are discovered in relation to the breach.

A source at the newspaper said the print team had been working “like madness” since the attack and had been forced to…