Attacks on the Press in 2010 - Committee to Protect Journalists

IntroductionExposing the Internet’sShadowy Assailantsby Danny O’BrienFor the past decade, those who used the Internet to report the newsmight have assumed that the technological edge was in their favor.But online journalists now face more than just the standard risks to thoseworking in dangerous conditions. They find themselves victims of newattacks unique to the new medium. From online surveillance of writersthrough customized malicious software to “just in time” censorship thatcan wipe controversial news sites off the Internet at the most inconvenientmoment, the online tools to attack the press are getting smarter andspreading further.In March, Andrew Jacobs, a correspondent working for The New YorkTimes in Beijing, peered for the first time into the obscure corners of hisYahoo e-mail account settings. Under the “mail forwarding” tab was ane-mail address he had never seen before. That other e-mail address hadbeen receiving copies of all of his incoming e-mails for months. His accounthad been hacked.Jacobs’ experience as a journalist in China is not unusual. Over thepast two years, other members of the Foreign Correspondents’ Clubof China (FCCC) have been the victims of a series of targeted computerhacks. In 2009, carefully crafted e-mails from an elaborately constructedfalse identity—“Pam Bourdon,” economics editor of the Straits Times—were sent to their local news assistants via unpublicized e-mail addresses.If the assistants opened an attached document, they were shown exactlywhat one might expect from the e-mail’s cover explanation—a detailedlist of dates that “Bourdon” would be available during a Beijing visit.Simultaneously, a hidden program capable of taking over and spying onthe recipient’s computer would launch. Control of the assistant’s computer—andthat of anyone who opened the forwarded document—wouldpass to remote servers controlled by unknown parties.7