Today, it was a bit of a relief to stumble across an article in the morning paper - the San Francisco Chronicle - in which was reported that journalists have been under attack by unscrupulous hackers.
For good reason!
It is heartening to know that I have not been the only writer under attack!
Ever since I reported on malicious viruses I uncovered at google a few weeks ago - and the subsequent battle the owners of the leading search engine has been engaged in with the Chinese Government - my own e-mail has been targeted.
However, contrary to the allegations set forth in the Chronicle's informative article, the hackers have not only forwarded e-mail on occasionn (or deleted it) but also used malicious worms designed to infect and disable the victim's computer.
In fact, I just reported on a malicious intruder - the Soldier Virus - which popped up on my own computer after checking e-mail at Yahoo yesterday afternoon.
Post: 3/31/10
http://ijulian.blogspot.com/2010/03/soldier-virusscam-extorting-money.html
When I was checking the "registry" of my computer, I also located a user key which stated in the caption "blog this".
I determined that the "virus" was designed to disrupt attempts to access blog sites - post articles - and so forth and so on.
In the article in the Chronicle, a reporter noted that one journalist - Kathleen McLaughlin - was a victim last week when her account was disabled (she's a former Chronicle Foreign Service contributor).
"Someone is clearly targeting journalists," she lamented to a New York Times Beijing correspondence.
"It makes me feel very uncomfortable."
The Chronicle noted that for some inexplicable reason, Yahoo has remained silent over the matter, except for a vague statement issued to the press yesterday.
"We are committed to protecting user security and privacy and we take appropriate action in the event of any kind of breach."
If the FBI is involved - and there is an investigation underway - then that reponse would be understandable.
I intend to report the Soldier Virus incident to that Law Enforcement agency by way of their Cyber Crime unit online since the individuals are not only trying to disable computers but also extort money from the victims.
These allegations were reported in my article yesterday (link above).
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