Active Stocks
Thu Mar 28 2024 15:59:33
  1. Tata Steel share price
  2. 155.90 2.00%
  1. ICICI Bank share price
  2. 1,095.75 1.08%
  1. HDFC Bank share price
  2. 1,448.20 0.52%
  1. ITC share price
  2. 428.55 0.13%
  1. Power Grid Corporation Of India share price
  2. 277.05 2.21%
Business News/ Industry / Media/  Wall Street Journal says hit by Chinese hackers too
BackBack

Wall Street Journal says hit by Chinese hackers too

WSJ says evidence shows that infiltration efforts target the monitoring of the Journal’s coverage of China

‘The Wall Street Journal’ gave no timeline for the attacks, but said a network overhaul to bolster security had been completed on Thursday. Photo: AFP (AFP)Premium
‘The Wall Street Journal’ gave no timeline for the attacks, but said a network overhaul to bolster security had been completed on Thursday. Photo: AFP
(AFP)

Washington: The Wall Street Journal said on Thursday its computers had been hit by Chinese hackers, the latest US media organization citing an effort to spy on its journalists covering China.

The announcement came a day after The New York Times said hackers, possibly connected to China’s military, had infiltrated its computers in response to its expose of the vast wealth amassed by a top leader’s family.

The Journal reported that the attacks were “for the apparent purpose of monitoring the newspaper’s China coverage" and suggested that Chinese spying on US media has become a “widespread phenomenon".

“Evidence shows that infiltration efforts target the monitoring of the Journal’s coverage of China, and are not an attempt to gain commercial advantage or to misappropriate customer information," said a statement from Journal parent Dow Jones, a unit of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said the US government had noted an increase in hacking attacks on both state institutions and private companies, and would raise the issue in international forums.

“We have to begin making it clear to not only the Chinese...that the US is going to be having to take actions to protect not only our governments but our private sector from this kind of illegal intrusion," she said.

“I’d like to see an international forum committed to discussing what to do about this, because everybody’s vulnerable.

“We’re going to try to get legislation passed which we were unsuccessful in doing in the last Congress," she told journalists at a briefing to mark the end of her term as America’s top diplomat.

The Journal gave no timeline for the attacks, but said a network overhaul to bolster security had been completed on Thursday.

“We fully intend to continue the aggressive and independent journalism for which we are known," Dow Jones spokeswoman Paula Keve said.

On Wednesday, the Times reported that hackers have infiltrated computer systems and stolen staff passwords over the past four months.

The effort was particularly focused on the emails of Shanghai bureau chief David Barboza, the newspaper said.

According to a Barboza story published on 25 October, close relatives of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao have made billions of dollars in business dealings.

“Chinese hackers, using methods that some consultants have associated with the Chinese military in the past, breached The Times’s network," the newspaper said, citing a wealth of digital evidence gathered by its security experts.

The Times said the IT consultants believed the attacks “started from the same university computers used by the Chinese military to attack US military contractors in the past."

The hackers stole corporate passwords and targeted the computers of 53 employees, including former Beijing bureau chief Jim Yardley, who is now the Times’s South Asia bureau chief based in India.

The Times said Bloomberg News was also targeted by Chinese hackers, after publishing in June a report on the wealth accumulated by relatives of Xi Jinping. In November, Xi was elevated to leader of the Chinese Communist Party.

Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!

Catch all the Industry News, Banking News and Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.
More Less
Published: 01 Feb 2013, 09:45 AM IST
Next Story footLogo
Recommended For You
Switch to the Mint app for fast and personalized news - Get App