Hackers broke into News Corp email accounts and compromised the data of an unspecified number of journalists, the company disclosed on February 4, 2022.
The global media behemoth’s Internet security adviser claimed hackers likely were gathering intelligence for Beijing.
News Corp said the breach was discovered in late January and affected emails and documents of what it described as a limited number of employees, including journalists, before cybersecurity firm Mandiant contained the breach.
David Wong, vice president of consulting at Mandiant, said the hackers were believed to have “a China nexus, and we believe they are likely involved in espionage activities to collect intelligence to benefit China’s interests.”
In a letter, company executives told employees that “we believe the activity affected a limited number of business email accounts and documents from News Corp headquarters, News Technology Services, Dow Jones, News UK, and New York Post.”
“Our preliminary analysis indicates that foreign government involvement may be associated with this activity, and that some data was taken,” executives said.
The company added that its other business units, including HarperCollins Publishers, Move, News Corp Australia, Foxtel, REA, and Storyful, were not targeted in the attack.
Western Journalists Targeted
Chinese hackers have repeatedly been blamed for hacks of journalists both in the US and elsewhere.
In 2013, the New York Times reported a breach which it said had affected 53 personal computers belonging to its employees and said the timing corresponded with its investigation into wealth accumulated by relatives of Wen Jiabao, China’s then-prime minister.
The report was the first in a series of contemporaneous disclosures about similar intrusions or attempted intrusions at other US media organizations, including Bloomberg, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal.
Mike McLellan, the director of intelligence at cybersecurity firm Secureworks, which has tracked China-linked spying on media organizations on-and-off over the past decade, shares the view that Beijing’s hackers have been targeting Western journalists for years.
He said journalists might have access to valuable sources of intelligence about China’s adversaries or its domestic opponents.
“Journalists — and the things they’re working on — are fairly high on their list of priorities,” he said.
- Reuters, with additional editing by Neal McGrath
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