State-Backed Phishing Attacks Target US Journalists: Report

A man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture taken on May 13, 2017. Kacper Pempel/Reuters

Hackers from China, North Korea, Iran, and Turkey are routinely targeting U.S. journalists and media for their state-aligned purposes, according to a report by Proofpoint, a Sunnyvale based enterprise cybersecurity company.

The media and journalists have been easy targets of cyber activities “for espionage or to gain key insights into the inner workings of another government, company, or other area of state-designated import,” said the report on July 14.

Targeting Work Email Accounts

When targets open a phishing email containing a malicious attachment—a malware used as a backdoor to gain persistence on a victim’s machine—the compromised account “could be used to spread disinformation or pro-state propaganda, provide disinformation during times of war or pandemic, or be used to influence a politically charged atmosphere” said the article.