A cyberattack linked to Chinese intelligence targeted News Corp, the Rupert Murdoch-owned media conglomerate that owns The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post and MarketWatch.
News Corp, shortly after the attack, sent an email to its employees saying that a limited number of email accounts were targeted and affected, and that those who were impacted will be notified by the management of the companies soon.
As part of the attack, the hackers gained access to emails and documents of News Corp employees and journalists.
The attack was initially discovered on January 20 and was contained after News Corp contacted law enforcement and hired cybersecurity firm Mandiant. According to the company's cybersecurity consultant, the attack likely came from China in order to gather intelligence to benefit the country's interests.
"Mandiant assesses that those behind this activity have a China nexus, and we believe they are likely involved in espionage activities to collect intelligence to benefit China’s interests," vice president of incident response at Mandiant David Wong told the WSJ.
The method of the hack, as well as its scale, is unknown. However, customer data, such as information on subscribers of the media outlets under News Corp's umbrella, were not affected, a person familiar on the matter told the WSJ.
Representatives for the Chinese Embassy in Washington didn’t immediately respond to the WSJ's requests for comment.
This is a developing story.