New York Times Hacked By China Over Four Months After Reporting on Corruption By Family of Chinese Premier

The New York Times revealed on Wednesday that Chinese hackers, possibly connected to China's military, have been consistently infiltrating the newspaper's website since October of last year.

"For the last four months, Chinese hackers have persistently attacked The New York Times, infiltrating its computer systems and getting passwords for its reporters and other employees," wrote the New York Times itself.

"After surreptitiously tracking the intruders to study their movements and help erect better defenses to block them, The Times and computer security experts have expelled the attackers and kept them from breaking back in."

It's likely the hacking attacks were either retaliation or surveillance after a series of Times stories last autumn that detailed corruption and profiteering by family members of China's Premier Wen Jiabao, judging from the targets of the attacks.

"They broke into the e-mail accounts of its Shanghai bureau chief, David Barboza, who wrote the reports on Mr. Wen's relatives, and Jim Yardley, The Times's South Asia bureau chief in India, who previously worked as bureau chief in Beijing," writes the Times.

For now, it seems no customer data was compromised, and that hacking was restricted to reporters and information dealing with the Wen family.

As expected, China denied any involvement. "Chinese laws prohibit any action including hacking that damages Internet security," said China's Ministry of National Defense. "To accuse the Chinese military of launching cyberattacks without solid proof is unprofessional and baseless."

The hackers appeared to be looking for the identities of any informants who provided information on the Wen family to the Times. However, Times reporters worked from public sources while researching the articles.

The attacks also seemed particularly single-minded. "They could have wreaked havoc on our systems," said Marc Frons, the Times's chief information officer. "But that was not what they were after."

The Times has since blocked the back doors in its network, changed all employee passwords and increased security for their entire network.