NYT hacked by Chinese

BOfH · 01-31-2013, 10:50

Wait! What?! I thought the Chinese wrote the NYT articles.

http://dailycaller.com/2013/01/31/ny...e-attacked-it/

Quote:

Chinese hackers infiltrated computers systems at the New York Times over the past four months, stealing the passwords of employees and reporters, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

The attackers have been expelled from the system and no sensitive documents, emails or customer data were downloaded or copied by the attackers, according to security experts hired by the Times.

“The timing of the attacks coincided with the reporting for a Times investigation, published online on Oct. 25, that found that the relatives of Wen Jiabao, China’s prime minister, had accumulated a fortune worth several billion dollars through business dealings,” the paper reports.

While the Chinese Ministry of National Defense denied the allegations, calling them “unprofessional and baseless,” the Times maintains that the attacks were part of a larger espionage campaign against American media companies. Bloomberg suffered a similar attack in 2012.

On a side note, I know of some infosec people at Bloomberg who were recently canned, well, now I know why

Utah Bob · 01-31-2013, 11:19

Why hack it when they could just buy it?

**PRB** · 01-31-2013, 11:56

probably just a school assignment for their soon to be prof Govt. sponsored hackers

BOfH · 01-31-2013, 12:53

I don't get why they targeted the NYT either. Bloomberg I can understand, many people rely on them for market intelligence, manipulate the intelligence and you can manipulate the markets, and with it, the economy. On the topic, several years ago I was at an infosec conference, in which the Deputy Director of the FBI's Cyber Crime division briefed the attendees; and I quote: "There is no dollar. Our entire financial system is backed by the integrity of it's (electronic) transactions. Subvert the integrity and you subvert the system."

My .02

Ret10Echo · 01-31-2013, 14:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by BOfH

Wait! What?! I thought the Chinese wrote the NYT articles.

I don't believe this really happened. It's just a fabricated tale to sell more papers...

Richard · 01-31-2013, 19:12

I was listening to an NPR report on this one while driving to San Rafael and back today. It was interesting - apparently the Chinese leaders don't like it when their ponzi-schemed profits are exposed to the world at large.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/...inese-campaign

Richard

BOfH · 01-31-2013, 22:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard

I was listening to an NPR report on this one while driving to San Rafael and back today. It was interesting - apparently the Chinese leaders don't like it when their ponzi-schemed profits are exposed to the world at large.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/...inese-campaign

Richard

QP Richard,
That's a good point, I saw it mentioned elsewhere as well. I wonder why they need to resort to hacking news networks as opposed to running a disinformation campaign. I guess it is harder to do so in the digital age than it was for the KGB and DGI etc. back in the day...or is it?

My .02