News Corp. cybersecurity experts say the attack may be linked to Chinese espionage.
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News Corp. said on Friday that emails and other documents of some of its journalists and other officials had been stolen in a cyber attack attributed by security experts to hackers who may be working on behalf of the Chinese government.
The data breach, discovered on January 20, was revealed in a regulatory dossier. The Wall Street Journal, which is owned by News Corp., reported that the attack affected a number of publications and businesses, including the Journal and its mother, Dow Jones; New York Post; the company’s news operation in the United Kingdom; and the headquarters of News Corp.
News Corp. stated in its documentation that it believed that the breach had been contained and that its systems containing customer and financial data had not been affected. Law enforcement was notified and the company hired cybersecurity firm Mandiant to investigate the violation.
David Wong, vice president of incident response at Mandiant, told the Journal that the people behind the breach were “probably involved in espionage activities to gather intelligence for China’s interests.”
Representatives of the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to WSJ’s requests for comment.
US authorities have long accused Chinese-based hackers of targeting US business and government institutions. The FBI has more than 2,000 active investigations into allegations of Chinese-led theft of US information or technology, FBI Director Christopher Ray said this week.
China has repeatedly denied allegations of cyberattacks.