China sics hackers on The New York Times

Chinese hackers have the New York Times in their crosshairs, as paper executives report numerous network attacks in recent weeks. The cybersecurity attacks coincide with a New York Times article that exposed a leading politician as wealthy — a public revelation that angered Beijing, according to the Voice of America.

The report, on outgoing Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, cited his family’s nest egg of $2.7 billion — an impressive feat in a country suffering from widespread poverty and starvation.

In the four months since that report was published, the newspaper said hackers have broken through its network security system and stolen email passwords of senior reporters and others, VOA reported. The hackers, according to The New York Times, which published a lengthy article on the issue in Wednesday’s paper, are Chinese. They have used “methods that some consultants have associated with the Chinese military,” according to The Times published statement.

“Computer security experts found no evidence that sensitive emails or files form the reporting of our articles about the Wen family were accessed, downloaded or copied,” said Jill Abramson, executive editor of The Times, in that paper’s article.

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