Security News > 2022 > February > China Suspected of News Corp Cyberespionage Attack

The Chinese hackers responsible for an attack on media giant News Corp last month likely were seeking intelligence to serve China's interests in a cyberespionage incident that shows the persistent vulnerability of corporate networks to email-based attacks, security professionals said.

In an email to staff, News Corp cited a "Foreign government" as responsible for the "Persistent nation-state attack" and confirmed that "Some data" was stolen, according to published reports.

China has previously shown an interest in attacking journalists, making this latest attack "Entirely consistent with past Chinese state-sponsored behavior," concurred Dave Merkel, CEO of cybersecurity firm Expel.

He cited a previous attack on the New York Times by China in 2013 as a precedent for the nation's targeting of journalists.

The threat actors' use of business email compromise to pull off the attack "Makes sense" and also is consistent with nation-state actors, Merkel observed.

Merkel said the No. 1 source of attacks against Expel customers is BEC. "There's no reason to think Chinese state-sponsored groups wouldn't use the same tactics against their targets if those tactics work - and news organizations are definitely targets," he said.

News URL

https://threatpost.com/china-suspected-news-corp-cyberespionage/178277/