Sunday Times 2
Chinese hackers target New York Times
View(s):By Steve Nolan
Chinese hackers attacked the New York Times’ computer system and stole every employee’s password after its investigation into Premier Wen Jiabao’s $2 billion fortune, it was claimed today. The gang reportedly side-stepped the newspaper’s security systems over several months in a bid to track down files relating to Prime Minister Mr Wen and his family’s impressive wealth.
Hacked: The New York Times office in Manhattan. The newspaper has reported that its computer system was breached by Chinese hackers
The New York Times said that experts hired to deal with the security breaches found that the hackers routed the attacks through computers at U.S. universities, installed a strain of malicious software associated with Chinese hackers and initiated the attacks from university computers previously used to attack U.S. military contractors. Security breaches began in September, the same time that the paper began its investigation.
Hackers managed to steal passwords of every Times employee and 53 computers were hacked into, according to Foxnews.com. Their attempt to access the files was unsuccessful however as the Times confirmed that all of the investigation folders had remained protected.
Experts are unsure how the hackers initially managed to infiltrate the newspaper’s systems. Executive editor Jill Abramson said: ‘Computer security experts found no evidence that sensitive e-mails or files from the reporting of our articles about the Wen family were accessed, downloaded or copied.’
But when approached by the paper, the Chinese Defence Ministry warned that allegations of hacking against the country without solid proof is ‘unprofessional and baseless.’ The Times is not the first to claim hacking by the Chinese.
The U.S Government along with several other foreign nations and computer experts have all accused Chinese hackers of launching widespread cyper-spying campaigns in a bid to uncover sources and to stop negative stories about the country.
Greg Walton, a cyber-security researcher who has tracked Chinese hacking campaigns, said: ‘Attacks on journalists based in China are increasingly aggressive, disruptive and sophisticated.’ Executives had become concerned about security when Chinese officials warned them of unspecified consequences before they published their investigation into Wen Jiabao on October 25.
The company that monitors its computer systems then confirmed activity consistent with hacking. The Chinese premier is thought to have been very embarrassed by the New York times story regarding his wealth back in October. The article described how the Prime Minister’s mother, siblings and children amassed their affluence and prompted the powers-that-be in the Communist state to block the newspaper’s website both in English and Chinese.
Searches for the publication’s site as well as the names of Mr Wen’s family members were also barred on the country’s main microblog service with the Chinese government describing the feature as a ‘smear’. The article stated that the family of Mr Wen, 70, known for his humble background – his mother was a teacher and his father tended pigs – had accumulated most of their assets since Wen was named vice premier in 1998 before his promotion to Prime Minister nine years ago.
The estimate of his family’s wealth was made according to a review of corporate and regulatory records from 1992 to 2012. New York Times reporter Chris Buckley was forced to leave the country following the article after authorities failed to renew his medical documentation.
© Daily Mail, London
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