Downtown Silver Spring-based media conglomerate Urban One has reported a cyberattack that compromised personal data, as the company faces layoffs amid an anticipated sharp decline in advertising revenue.
Recorded Future News reported on Monday that hackers launched a cyberattack on February 13 through a sophisticated social engineering campaign, stealing names, addresses, Social Security numbers, direct deposit details, and W-2 information.
The Cactus ransomware group claimed responsibility for the cyberattack on March 12. According to Recorded Future News, the group emerged in 2023 and was initially highlighted by Microsoft for using malware distributed through online advertisements to compromise victims.
Urban One discovered the incident on March 15. Although it did not impact the company’s operations, a forensic investigation confirmed by March 30 that the hackers had stolen data.
The company notified at least 355 individuals affected by the recent cyberattack, offering them two years of free credit monitoring services and reporting the incident to the authorities, following a prior data breach in 2019 that involved over 1,000 stolen Social Security numbers.
🚨Cyberattack Alert ‼️
🇺🇸USA – Urban One
Cactus hacking group claims to have breached Urban One.
Allegedly, 2.5 TB of data were exfiltrated, including personal identifiable information, database backups, corporate internal documents, contracts, agreements, financial… pic.twitter.com/uwIUbZhL3k
— HackManac (@H4ckManac) March 12, 2025
The latest incident comes as the downtown Silver Spring-based company laid off 5 percent of its staff during the fourth quarter last year and into January of this year amid a projected steep drop in adjusted earnings.
Urban One, the largest media company serving the African American community, anticipates a decline due to general economic uncertainty that is prompting companies to reduce spending.
According to the Washington Business Journal, consumer spending declined for the first time in two years in February. A series of moves by the Trump administration, particularly the imposition of tariffs on a wide range of imported goods, has left many companies on edge.
“You’re absolutely seeing advertisers…reacting to an uncertain economy,” Urban One CEO Alfred Liggins told investors and analysts during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call in late March.
Liggins also announced on the call that the company is abandoning its plans for a casino in Richmond after a second failed referendum, instead focusing on debt reduction and media consolidation in a challenging industry.
“It’s safe to say [the casino process is over] given that they’ve actually broken ground on the casino in Petersburg,” Liggins said.
Despite the current climate, Liggins sees an opportunity for acquisitions, and the company remains interested in mergers and acquisitions, given the possibility of deregulation that could accelerate consolidation in the radio industry.
Urban One has acted as both a buyer and a seller in recent years, most recently consolidating its operations in Indianapolis and Houston. However, attempts to acquire the Atlanta-based Bounce TV and BET Media Group over the past two years did not materialize, according to WBJ.
“We’ve always been economic animals, meaning that if somebody were to make us an offer on pieces of our business that would ultimately be accretive to us, from a de-leveraging standpoint, would help us significantly move the needle, we would absolutely consider it,” Liggins said.