The Russian hacking group “Fancy Bear” targeted more than 200 journalists around the world with phishing emails as early as mid-2014 and as recently as a few months ago, Associated Press reports and adds that it identified journalists as the third largest group on a hacking hit list obtained from cybersecurity firm Secureworks. The first two were diplomatic personnel and U.S. Democrats.
About a quarter, or 50 journalists, worked for The New York Times and another 50 were either foreign correspondents based in Moscow or Russian reporters who worked for independent news outlets, while others were prominent media figures in Ukraine, Moldova, the Baltics or Washington.
According to the Associated Press, the list of journalists provides new evidence for the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that Fancy Bear acted on behalf of the Russian government when it meddled in last year’s presidential election. American spy agencies said that the hackers had been working to help President Donald Trump, even though official Moscow denied meddling in the election.
Masha Gessen is a New York-based writer who explains how agents loudly speaking Russian into phones began appearing at events that she scheduled into her Google calendar, suggesting that her account on the app had been hacked.
“It was really obvious. It was a classic KGB intimidation tactic,” Gessen, the author of a book about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rise to power, said.
The list obtained by SecureWorks confirmed Gessen’s status as a target. Among other journalists targeted were Josh Rogin, a Washington Post columnist, and Shane Harris, who was covering the intelligence community for The Daily Beast in 2015 etc.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Fancy Bear’s phishing attempts were part of a wider scheme to intimidate journalists.
“It’s about gaining access to sources and intimidating those journalists,” said CPJ advocacy director Courtney Radsch.
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