News Corp. Reporters' Emails Targeted In China-Linked Hack

News Corp. Reporters' Emails Targeted In China-Linked Hack
Law360 (February 4, 2022, 2:47 PM EST) -- A cyberattack on News Corp. exposed emails and documents belonging to journalists, including at The Wall Street Journal and New York Post, and was likely the work of intelligence agents working for the Chinese government, the company said Friday.

The attack, discovered Jan. 20, also targeted staff at News Corp.'s headquarters in New York City, at the Journal's parent company Dow Jones, and within the company's U.K. news operation, according to an email sent to employees.

The company's cybersecurity consultants at Mandiant believe the attackers "have a China nexus" and "are likely involved in espionage activities to collect intelligence to benefit China's interests," according to the email, a copy of which was obtained by Law360.

The attackers stole an undisclosed amount of email correspondence and documents, News Corp. said in the email and in a Friday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

"Even though the vast majority of our people's emails and documents were not the target of this attack activity, we take seriously any attack on our organization and our employees, including our journalists," News Corp. wrote in the email, co-signed by the company's chief technology officer, David Kline, and its chief information security officer, Billy O'Brien.

The attackers gained access to the stolen emails and documents by breaching an undisclosed third-party vendor that provides cloud computing services, News Corp. wrote in its SEC filing. The company's internal systems housing its customer and financial data were not affected, and the company did not experience any "interruptions to its businesses operations," it said in the filing.

"At this time, the company is unable to estimate the expenses it will incur in connection with its investigation and remediation efforts," News Corp. added. The company warned that its insurance policy covering data security episodes "may not be sufficient to cover all losses from any breaches of the company's systems," and that it "does not extend to reputational damage or costs incurred to improve or strengthen systems against future threats or activity."

China has previously been accused of orchestrating cyberattacks in attempts to spy on reporters, including at the Journal and The New York Times, as far back as 2013, those newspapers reported at the time. In recent years, U.S. cybersecurity authorities have linked China's intelligence agents to massive breaches at credit reporting bureau Equifax and at the hotelier Marriott International Inc.