|
ˇ@
Foreign reportersˇ¦ Google e-mail hacked
in China
ˇ@
AP , BEIJING
Wednesday, Jan 20, 2010, Page 1
International journalists in China said that their Google e-mail accounts have
been hacked in attacks similar to the ones against human rights activists that
the search giant cited as a reason for considering pulling out of the country.
In announcing a possible exit from China last week, Google did not specify how
the accounts with its Gmail service were hacked into or by whom. Information
since then has trickled out.
The Foreign Correspondentsˇ¦ Club of China sent an e-mail on Monday to its
members warning that reporters in at least two news bureaus in Beijing said
their Gmail accounts had been broken into, with their e-mails surreptitiously
forwarded to unfamiliar accounts.
Although the warning did not name the organizations, one of the accounts
belonged to an Associated Press journalist.
John Daniszewski, senior managing editor for international news at the news
cooperative in New York, deplored the breach and said AP would be investigating
to determine if any vital information was compromised.
The club asked its members to be vigilant in protecting their e-mail accounts
and computers from attack.
ˇ§We remind all members that journalists in China have been particular targets of
hacker attacks in the last two years,ˇ¨ the clubˇ¦s message read. ˇ§Please be very
careful what you click on, and run virus checks regularly.ˇ¨
The AP, Agence France-Presse, Dow Jones, Reuters and other news organizations
were targeted in September in an attack in which viruses were implanted in
ordinary looking e-mails.
PHONE NIXED
Meanwhile, Google yesterday postponed the launch of its mobile phone in China,
adding to the potential commercial fallout of its dispute with Beijing over
Internet censorship and e-mail hacking.
One person briefed on Googleˇ¦s decision said it was linked to the companyˇ¦s
threat to shut its Chinese-based search engine if restrictions arenˇ¦t eased.
ˇ@
|
