A group of hackers recently attempted to breach the email accounts of several Washington Post journalists in what appears to be a targeted cyberattack, according to an internal memo
obtained by CNN.
The breach was detected last Thursday, prompting The Post to reset login credentials for all employees the following day, Executive Editor Matt Murray said in a memo to staff on Sunday.
“While our investigation continues, we believe only a small number of journalist accounts were affected, and we’ve directly notified those individuals,” Murray stated. He added that there’s no indication the intrusion extended beyond email or impacted other Post systems or its customers.
The identity of the attackers remains unknown. Journalists are frequent targets of both state-sponsored hackers, who aim to monitor sensitive reporting before it’s published, and cybercriminals seeking to exploit or extort media outlets.
A Post spokesperson declined to comment on who might be behind the attack.
The Wall Street Journal was the first to report the incident. The Journal itself was previously targeted in a long-term cyberespionage campaign attributed to suspected Chinese hackers, which came to light in 2022. That operation focused on reporters covering issues related to China. Photo by Daniel X. O'Neil from USA, Wikimedia commons.
