London, Dec 21 (IANS): Leading UK-based newspaper The Guardian on Wednesday confirmed its systems have been hit by a "serious IT incident," which appears to be a ransomware attack.

The publication said the cyber attack began late on Tuesday and affected parts of the company's IT infrastructure.

"Online publishing is largely unaffected, with stories continuing to be written and published to the Guardian website and app," wrote the media editor at the publication.

Guardian Media Group Chief Executive Anna Bateson and Editor-in-Chief Katharine Viner said in a note to employees that "We believe this to be a ransomware attack but are continuing to consider all possibilities."

"We are continuing to publish globally to our website and apps and although some of our internal systems are affected, we are confident we will be able to publish in print tomorrow," they told the employees.

The publication said that with a few key exceptions, "we would like everyone to work from home for the remainder of the week unless we notify you otherwise".

In September, hackers breached the internal systems of US business publication Fast Company.

In October, The New York Post also confirmed that it was hacked.