Hackers tied to China are suspected of spying on News Corp. journalists

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."The investigation is ongoing, but perhaps most concerning is News Corp.'s assertion that the culprits have ties to a foreign government.

While Mandiant did not explicitly link the cyberattack to the Chinese government, David Wong, the vice president for incident response at Mandiant, said in a statement that the cybersecurity firm's analysts have concluded that "those behind this activity have a China nexus." They were spying or "involved in espionage activities" to gather information "to benefit China's interests," he added.

Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, did not comment on the reported News Corp. hack but said in an email that China "firmly opposes and combats cyber-attacks and cyber theft in all forms. This position is consistent and clear. China is a staunch defender of cybersecurity and has long been a main victim of cyber thefts and attacks."

Liu added: "We hope that there can be a professional, responsible and evidence-based approach to identifying cyber-related incidents, rather than making allegations based on speculations."

The Chinese government has a documented track record of launching persistent, sophisticated cyberattacks on businesses, academia, research institutions and government agencies, often with the intention of stealing information that would benefit Chinese interests.

During the Trump administration, the Justice Department launched a "China initiative" aimed at cracking down on what it described as a growing tide of Chinese espionage and intellectual property theft costing businesses around the world hefty sums."...