As reported by The New York Times, News Corp, the news publishing empire owned by Rupert Murdoch, was the target of a cyberattack that hacked the email accounts of journalists and others at the company, in a breach that a digital security firm said was meant to help China.
During a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday, News Corp declared that it was the victim of a cyber attack in January. News Corp said in the filing that the attack was discovered on January 20 and in response they had informed law enforcement agencies and hired cybersecurity firm Mandiant Inc. to investigate the attack. A representative of the Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed later on Friday that they were aware of the incident.
As per reports, emails and documents of journalists and other employees were the target of the hack. According to an email sent to its staff, News Corp said that the cyberattack had affected a number of publications and business units including The Wall Street Journal and its parent Dow Jones; the New York Post; the company’s U.K. news operation; and News Corp headquarters. Other properties such as News Corp Australia, HarperCollins Publishers and Storyful, were not believed to have been affected.
David Wong, vice president of incident response at Mandiant, said “Mandiant assesses that those behind this activity have a China nexus, and we believe they are likely involved in espionage activities to collect intelligence to benefit China’s interests.”
David Kline, the Chief Technology Officer at News Corp, said in an email, “Our preliminary analysis indicates that foreign government involvement may be associated with this activity and that some data was taken.” He further says, “Mandiant assesses that those behind this activity have a China nexus and believes they are likely involved in espionage activities to collect intelligence to benefit China’s interests.”
As per a report, the hackers were able to access reporters’ emails and Google Docs, including drafts of articles. The attackers appeared to be interested in a range of topics, including issues of importance to Beijing such as Taiwan and China’s Uyghur ethnic group. Other areas of interest included draft journal articles and notes about U.S. military troop activity, U.S. technology regulation related to China, and articles about President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and senior White House officials. The hackers also searched using keywords for emails related to traditional intelligence areas, including defense.
Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said that they were not aware of any such attacks. Liu said, “We hope that there can be a professional, responsible and evidence-based approach to identifying cyber-related incidents, rather than making allegations based on speculations.”
Almar Latour, chief executive of Dow Jones and publisher of The Wall Street Journal, has said, “We are committed to protecting our journalists and sources. We will not be deterred from our purpose—to provide uniquely trusted journalism and analysis. We will continue to publish the important stories of our time.”
In 2013, The New York Times as well as The Wall Street Journal had reported a similar cyber-attack linked to the Chinese government. This new attack comes after China cancelled media credentials of reporters working for The Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post and expelled them in 2020. As per FBI director Christopher Wray, China is behind a “massive, sophisticated hacking program that is bigger than those of every other major nation combined.” He added that the agency had more than 2,000 investigations in progress connected to thefts of US tech or information that were allegedly orchestrated by the Chinese government.
