Wall Street Journal: China hackers hit us, too

The Wall Street Journal said today that it's been the target of Chinese hackers stemming from its coverage of China, echoing reports from other news organizations.

Hackers infiltrated the newspaper's computer system through its Beijing bureau in order to monitor the paper's coverage of China, according to the report. Paula Keve, chief spokeswoman for the Journal's parent company, Dow Jones, issued a statement that said the hacks "are not an attempt to gain commercial advantage or to misappropriate customer information." The company completed a "network overhaul" on Thursday to increase security.

The Journal, which said it has faced hacking threats from China in the past, joins other news publications afflicted by cybersnooping related to their reporting on the Chinese government. The New York Times published a report yesterday, claiming that Chinese hackers stole the passwords of Times employees in an effort to get information on sources and contacts for the a story on Chinese Prime Minster Wen Jiabao.

China's Ministry of National Defense told the Times that the government didn't have anything to do with the cyberattacks on the Times, calling the allegations "unprofessional and baseless."

Other news organizations, including the Associated Press and Bloomberg News, have also reported cyber attacks related to coverage in China in recent months.