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 Correspondents’ 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.
“We remind all members that journalists in China have been particular targets of hacker attacks in the last two years,” the club’s message read. “Please be very careful what you click on, and run virus checks regularly.”
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 Google’s decision said it was linked to the company’s threat to shut its Chinese-based search engine if restrictions aren’t eased.
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