Skip to main content

Government hackers have attacked 80 percent of top news organizations

Government hackers have attacked 80 percent of top news organizations

Share this story

A new report from Google researchers indicates 21 out of the top 25 news organizations have been the target of advanced malware attacks typically carried out by state-sponsored groups. Google has been tracking state-sponsored malware for nearly two years now, but the new report, unveiled by a pair of Google security engineers at the Black Hat conference in Singapore, indicates the attacks disproportionately target the press. The report also named specific incidents involving the Associated Press in Vietnam and reporters at The New York Times.

The report comes after a string of attacks by the Syrian Electronic Army, which briefly hijacked websites belonging to Forbes and The New York Times, as well as more general targets like Twitter. In January of 2013, the New York Times reported it had been attacked by a group based in China, which may or may not have had the support of the government. On the US side, the NSA has been reported to target regulators and charities, but no specific reports have linked the agency to attacks on the press.