Chinese cyberattack against The Epoch Times and NTD Television – lagranepoca

In this file photo of a person using a computer in Beijing, China. (GOU Yige / AFP / Getty Images)

NEW YORK – For most of the 25th and January 26th the headquarters of The Epoch Times Media Group in New York City was hit by cyberattacks .

Since December last year, the Chinese-language broadcaster New Tang Dynasty Television (NTD) has been subject to cyber attacks, said technicians had the characteristics of an operation carried out by the Chinese regime . The shortest attack lasted a couple of hours, the longest lasted more than ten.

And the last attack, which began on January 23, lasted for over 50 hours, a record according to Mark Li , software engineer at NTD

“The hackers were changing their attack methods: controlling personal computers, television boxes, and infected with viruses public servants.” Li said. “We did a crawl, and based on the methods used and the scale of the attack, this was not the work of one individual,” he said.

The cyber attack aimed at stealing source code and other sensitive data while interfering with the production of NTD News, Li said. He added that failed any of its goals

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“The cyberattacks failed to interfere with the Epoch Times,” said Stephen Gregory, editor in chief of the English-language edition of The Epoch Times. ” We will continue offering readers the best journalism on the evolution of China “.

The Chinese edition of The Epoch Times was founded in 2000 by John Tang, CEO of Epoch Media Group. The newspaper’s mission is to provide uncensored news about China. Editing English Epoch Times was launched online in 2003, followed by its first printed edition in 2004.

Founded in 2001, NTD has correspondents worldwide. The station covers issues that are censored by the Chinese regime as human rights and the persecution of Falun Gong. Besides providing uncensored news to China, the company’s mission is to promote traditional Chinese culture.

NTD and the Chinese edition of The Epoch Times is now among the most popular media channels and influential Chinese diaspora; their websites rankean as the 2074 and 1869 among the most visited pages worldwide, according to research firm Alexa analysis

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Significantly, in the context of the cyber attack, both media are completely independent of the influence of the authorities of Chinese regime propaganda. Promoters of the party and the united front, which is an apparatus of the regime, are notorious for exerting influences on Chinese communities abroad, including media companies in order to ensure that the narrative of the regime remain dominant. NTD and Epoch Times, however, actively resist these measures and report independently on Chinese affairs.

The history of the official Chinese pressure and interference to NTD and Epoch Times is extensive and includes threats to advertisers or potential advertisers, disruption of public events, and pressuring other governments to restrict the space in which the media can operate.

“This cyber attack is a continuation Chinese repression of the regime, “said Samuel Zhou, NTD executive vice president. “It’s because NTD is an independent media, established by Chinese living abroad, and has always truthful freely informed the Chinese people around the world news.”

He stressed that the medium has been consistent in reporting on corruption and human rights abuses in China over the past decade, adding that “we will not change our principles for this cyber attack”.