New York Times Refutes CNN Report of Russian Hack

Paper says Moscow bureau was targeted but there is no evidence of a successful breach

New York Times building
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The New York Times is refuting a CNN report on Tuesday that the newspaper had been breached by Russian hackers.

Times reporters Nicole Perlroth and David E. Sanger wrote that the company’s Moscow bureau was the target of an attack earlier this month, but “there is no evidence that the hackers, believed to be Russian, were successful.”

The post contradicts a CNN report earlier in the day that claimed the FBI was investigating a cyber attack on the paper and other unnamed media outlets.

“We are constantly monitoring our systems with the latest available intelligence and tools,” Eileen Murphy, a spokeswoman for the Times said. “We have seen no evidence that any of our internal systems, including our systems in the Moscow bureau, have been breached or compromised.”

The Times also said CNN’s assertion that the paper had hired an independent security firm to work with the FBI on the investigation is untrue.

CNN reported that the attack on the Times and other organizations was believed to be part of a broader attempt by Russian hackers to gather intelligence from non-governmental sources.

The reported hack follows the infiltration of Democratic National Committee computers ahead of the party’s convention last month. The ensuing fallout, including a trove of emails published by Wikileaks believed to have been obtained during the hack, led to the resignation of party chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

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