Hackers Target Washington Post Journalists

Hackers have been targeting journalists at The Washington Post and the newspaper’s email system. The Post reported the incident in an internal memo last Sunday and implemented security measures to mitigate the attack.

According to CNN, the Post discovered the suspicious activity last Thursday. The company informed that it had identified a “possible targeted” malicious campaign on its email system and reset the login credentials of all workers.

“Although our investigation is ongoing, we believe the incident affected a limited number of Post journalists accounts, and we have contacted those whose accounts have been impacted,” said Washington Post Executive Editor Matt Murray in the memo. “We do not believe this unauthorized intrusion impacted any additional Post systems or has had any impact for our customers.”

The Post has not provided further details to the media and declined to comment on who was responsible for the attack.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the main reporters targeted in the attack were journalists who cover economic policies and national security, including those who write about China. Some of these journalists’ Microsoft accounts have been compromised, and intruders could have gained access to internal emails.

Sources familiar with the matter explained that staffers affected were notified recently and urged not to discuss the incident or share any information.  The WSJ reported that the attack was potentially carried out by a foreign government.

The story was first reported by the WSJ, whose parent company, News Corp, was breached in 2022. During that attack, hackers got access to the journalist’s emails, articles, drafts, and documents. They had a special interest in topics related to or relevant to Beijing.

Journalists have historically been attacked around the world for their first-hand access to sources and confidential information. A few months ago, the Serbian police were accused of deploying advanced spyware and mobile forensic tools to spy on journalists.