Washington Post hit by cyberattack targeting journalists' emails: Report

The Washington Post is investigating a cyberattack that targeted the email accounts of several of its journalists, according to a recent report by Reuters.

The breach was discovered on Thursday, prompting the newspaper to launch an internal investigation. In a memo to staff reviewed by Reuters, Executive Editor Matt Murray said the organisation took immediate precautionary measures, including a forced password reset for all employees on Friday night.

Murray stated in the memo that the intrusion did not appear to have affected other Post systems or any customer data, as per the Reuters report.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), which first reported the incident, cited unnamed sources suggesting that a foreign government may have been behind the attack. According to the WSJ, the breach involved Microsoft email accounts and may have given unauthorised access to journalists' work correspondence.

Those targeted reportedly include members of the Washington Post's national security and economic policy teams, including reporters covering China, mentions the report.

The incident follows a similar 2022 cyberattack on News Corp, which owns the Wall Street Journal, in which the email accounts and data of journalists were also compromised.