NEW YORK TIMES, REUTERS, ATLANTIC WIRE (US)
BEIJING –The New York Times says that it has been repeatedly targeted by Chinese cyber-attacks over the past four months, following a report the newspaper had published detailing allegations of hidden wealth of China’s Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.
The American Newspaper claimed that these hacking attempts failed.
“Security experts hired by The Times to detect and block the computer attacks gathered digital evidence that Chinese hackers, using methods that some consultants have associated with the Chinese military in the past, breached The Times’ network,” Reuters reported Thursday.
NY Times headquarters (Haxorjoe)
The hackers managed to retrieve the passwords of the newspaper’s employees, granting them access to personal computers, and therefore “sensitive” material. In the end, the computer security experts couldn’t find any evidence of stolen information – and more particularly any compromised emails or files related to the investgiation of the family of the Prime Minister.
The Chinese Ministry of National Defense retorted that “to accuse the Chinese military of launching cyber-attacks without solid proof is unprofessional and baseless,” relays the Atlantic Wire.
The hacking attempts started in October, just as the New York Times bureau chief for Southwest Asia and India, David Barboza, published the article which stated that Wen Jiabao had covered up the fact that he and his family were sitting on a $2.7 billion fortune.
