News corp, the global media giant led by Rupert Murdoch revealed on February 4 that it had been the victim of a cyberattack. the wall street journalmember of the group alongside the New York Post or Timesreports that the cybersecurity company responsible for assisting the group, Mandiant, believes that the hackers have a connection to China.
The work of journalists targeted
The attack was discovered on January 20 and targeted a technical cloud service provider from News Corp. In its incident report to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the American stock market policeman, the group confirms that certain data may have been stolen without further details.
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the wall street journal claims that company financial data or personal data of subscribers was spared. According to an internal company note, only certain email and document accounts such as Google docs – Google said they were not affected – or draft articles were consulted. The journalists concerned were moved by these flaws, worried about the safety of their sources.
According to preliminary analysis by Mandiant, government involvement is possible. The identity of this one would also leave little room for doubt according to Dave Wong, an executive of the cybersecurity company, “ we believe that they are probably involved in espionage activities aimed at collecting intelligence for the benefit of Chinese interests “.
The hackers would have focused on journalists working on Taiwan, the situation of the Uyghurs, technological regulations linked to China, American military activity… The FBI, warned, had accused China on January 31 of being responsible for the majority cyberattacks in the United States, more than 2,000 investigations are said to be ongoing. Its director, Christopher Wray had denounced ” massive and sophisticated hacking program, larger than those of all other major nations combined “.
China denies being behind cyberattack
Solicited by the American media, the Chinese Embassy in Washington strongly contested the accusations made against the Middle Empire. His spokesperson, while recalling the difficulty of attributing a cyberattack with certainty, said he hoped for an investigation with ” a professional, responsible and evidence-based approach to identifying cyber incidents, rather than making claims based on speculation “.
Nevertheless, some elements are troubling. The detected intrusion seems to date back to February 2020. At that time, China had revoked the accreditations of three journalists from the wall street journal for an article deemed distasteful by Beijing. This had opened a period of tension with the Trump administration around Chinese media in the United States and American media in China. The situation only calmed down in November 2021.
In the past, in 2013, China has already been accused of spying on the wall street journal and the New York Times. The aim was reportedly to monitor American journalists covering China. Beijing had also denied it, but the conviction of the United States then as now seems unshakable.