The FBI suspects that hacker attacks on the New York Times and other U.S. news outlets are directed by the Russian intelligence and part of earlier reported hacks of the Democratic Party. The hackers direct many of their resources against reporters to gain knowledge of government contacts and sensitive information from unpublished articles. (CNN, August 23, 2016, by Evan Perez and Shimon Prokupecz)
Rumors are that the hackers are using “spearphishing” in the form of plausible e-mails from a colleague or source but with embedded software or a fake website soliciting a reporter’s credentials. (Gizmodo, August 23, 2016, by William Turton)