Over the last several years, I’ve noticed a troubling trend in the journalism community: they’re being attacked by hackers. And whose doing the most of the hacking?
Not criminals, but government organizations around the world! Many mainstream news media, like New York Times, have been targeted by the Syrian Electronic Army, an organization that supports Syrian president Bashar Assad. According to Google security engineer Shane Huntley, 21 of the top 25 world news companies have been hit. Chinese hackers have made it a somewhat sport to infiltrate the mass media by using emails laced with malware. And it’s by no means limited to major media companies. Alternative media and even bloggers are being targeted.
But now, journalist are taking action. First, it’s good that we educate ourselves (since I’m a blogger, I’m including myself) about these dangers. Now, more journalist are doing what they can to protect themselves. But what saddens and concerns me is that this trend will likely continue, even worsen. The world around us seems to get a little more volatile with each and every passing day. I’m concerned with the domino effect this could have worldwide. And with the information these hackers could get, there’s no telling how this information could be used. How concerned should we be about these attacks on our journalists and bloggers?