Washington Post investigating cyberattack on journalists’ email accounts

The Washington Post is investigating a cyberattack on email accounts of some of its journalists, according to a source familiar with the matter and an internal memo reviewed by Reuters.

The memo sent to Post employees by executive editor Matt Murray said the intrusion was discovered on Thursday last week and the newspaper immediately initiated an investigation.

All Post employees had their passwords reset on Friday as a precaution, Murray said in the memo, adding that the intrusion was not thought to have had any impact on any additional Post systems or on customers.

The newspaper also forced a credential reset for all Post employees on Friday night.

The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the breach, said it was potentially the work of a foreign government.

The WSJ report added that staffers at the Washington Post were told the intrusions compromised journalists’ Microsoft accounts and could have granted the intruder access to work emails.

The reporters whose emails were targeted included members of the national security and economic policy teams, including some who write about China, the report added.

In 2022, News Corp, which publishes the WSJ, was breached by digital intruders.

The email accounts and data of an unspecified number of journalists were compromised in that incident.