Dow Jones Hacked, Customer Payment Information Stolen in Breach
American publishing and financial information firm owned by Rupert Murdock’s News Corp., which includes The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s, revealed their systems were compromised dating as far back as 2012, the company said Friday.
Company officials believe the breach was “likely part of a broader campaign involving a number of other victim companies.”
Dow Jones, the company in question, wrote a letter to customers Friday morning, warning of “unauthorized access to our systems” beginning in August 2012 and ending in July 2015, possibly exposing more than 3,500 individuals payment information,” said William Lewis, CEO of News Corp.’s Down Jones unit.
Dow Jones currently operates The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and MarketWatch, an online finance publication.
In the letter (PDF) to their customers, Lewis said there is no evidence any additional information was been stolen from the company’s servers. The attack appears to have targeted “contact information such as names, addresses, email addresses and phone numbers of current and former subscribers in order to send fraudulent solicitations,” Lewis warned in his letter.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we are notifying you that we recently determined there was unauthorized access to our systems,” the CEO continued. “To date, our extensive review has not uncovered any direct evidence that information was stolen, and we have taken steps to stop the unauthorized access.”
Lewis said law enforcement recently notified Dow Jones of the breach, which the company said it has been investigating since late July. He said the company is currently working with law enforcement and warned that other businesses may have been targeted in this Dow Jones hack.
“We understand that this incident was likely part of a broader campaign involving a number of other victim companies,” the letter added.
Customers affected in the Dow Jones hack will be receive a notification via the mail.
Dow Jones is best known for their role in the financial industry and operate a number of major publications including The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, Dow Jones Newswires, MarketWatch among countless others.
[Photo via Dow Jones Events/Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)]
