After a lengthy investigation paper on China, the Prime Minister, the New York Times claims, computer systems have been infiltrated and newspaper attacked by Chinese hackers.
The attacks began four months ago and culminated with hacking password for each employee business Times, the newspaper said. The personal computer 53 of these employees were also broken into and spied.
The Times has discovered attacks after seeing "unusual activity" in its computer system. The safety investigators were then able to enter the system and follow the movements of hackers, see what the infiltrators were after, and finally "to expel them."
Hackers penetrated the computers of the newspaper as one of its reporters, David Barboza, ended up a survey on the family fortune by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. Once the story was published in October, pirate activity intensifies. According to the New York Times, they were after information on sources and contacts for story Barboza.
To learn more about who was behind the cyber attacks, The Times hired Mandiant security firm. The experts of the company were able to detect and block attacks, hackers while watching every movement, the newspaper said.
Editor of the journal, Jill Abramson, said: "no evidence that the e-mails or sensitive files in the presentation of our articles on the Wen family were viewed, downloaded or copied."
According to the Times, the methods used were similar to those pirates attacks in the past by the Chinese army. These methods include routing attacks university computers in the United States, changing IP addresses, malicious e-mail to enter into the computer system and installation of custom software to target individuals and specific documents.
The Chinese Ministry of National Defence has denied that the government had nothing to do with hacking spree. "Chinese laws prohibit any action, including hacking damages that Internet security," the ministry told the Times. "Accusing the Chinese army to launch cyberattacks without solid evidence is unprofessional and baseless." It n is not unusual for governments to conduct cyber attacks against the media in other countries, agencies and institutions. Iran has carried out an attack against the United Kingdom, the BBC News last March, and earlier this month The U.S. government has said that Iran was responsible for a massive wave of cyber attacks on U.S. banks. The United States had also conducted its own war against piracy central Iranian oil companies and nuclear facilities three viruses called flame Stuxnet and Duqu.
Cyberespionage China against the United States was a growing threat in recent years. American Economic Council and Security Review Commission on China has sent a report to Congress in November that prompted the legislature to take preventive measures. The report calls China the "most threatening player in Cyberspace" and concluded that, in 2012, state-sponsored Chinese hackers continued to target systems managed by the U.S. government and military, as well as sector private.
Despite the weather being able to stop the pirates at the moment, it does not mean the paper will not become the target of another attack.
"This is not the end of history," agent Mandiant security chief, Richard Bejtlich, told the Times. "Once they get a taste of a victim, they tend to return. N It is not like a case of digital crime where hackers steal stuff and then they are gone. This requires vigilance internal model. "
