Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp has been hit by a Chinese cyberattack targeting journalists.
The owner of the Wall Street Journal said network systems containing personal data on staff and customers had been the focus of “persistent cyberattack activity”.
Among the operations being targeted was News UK, the London-based division that publishes the Sun and the Times and owns TalkSport and Virgin Radio.
The group contacted US authorities and cybersecurity consultants Mandiant after discovering “attack activity” on several of its businesses on January 20.
In an email to staff seen by The Telegraph, David Kline, chief technology officer of News Corp, said: “Our preliminary analysis indicates that foreign government involvement may be associated with this activity, and that some data was taken.
“Mandiant assesses that those behind this activity have a China nexus and believes they are likely involved in espionage activities to collect intelligence to benefit China’s interests.
“We will not tolerate attacks on our journalism, nor will we be deterred from our reporting, which provides readers everywhere with the news that matters,” he added.
News Corp said the attack had affected the business email accounts and documents of a “limited number of employees” inside its headquarters and across news technology services, Dow Jones, News UK and the New York Post.
Christopher Wray, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said on Thursday that America suffered more cyber-attacks by China than all other nations combined.
“The Chinese government steals staggering volumes of information and causes deep, job-destroying damage across a wide range of industries, so much so that, as you heard, we’re constantly opening new cases to counter their intelligence operations, about every 12 hours or so,” he said.
The announcement came as News Corp reported third-quarter results, where it revealed an extension to a multi-year agreement with Apple that builds on a previous partnership under which the iPhone maker pays for stories that appear on its news app.
News Corp said it expects the move to be “an important source of subscription and advertising revenue” for its news sites, as revenues climbed 13pc to a record $2.7bn (£1.9bn) for the last three months of 2021.
Profits also rose 18pc over the period to $586m (£432m), buoyed by a sales bump across its news publishing arm from cash-for-content deals and an advertising rebound.
Robert Thomson, the chief executive, said: “Our businesses are thriving, particularly at the digital real estate services, Dow Jones and book publishing segments, and there was a pronounced surge in profitability at our news media segment.
“The landmark agreements with Big Tech continued to benefit our journalism and our bottom line.”
The company also enjoyed a streaming surge at its Australian pay TV business Foxtel, with total customer numbers jumping by a third.
Mr Murdoch is in the midst of plotting a fresh attack on British broadcasting through the launch of TalkTV, the insurgent news network helmed by former News of the World editor Piers Morgan.
