Chinese hackers are still trying to infiltrate the Wall Street Journal, says Rupert Murdoch, almost a week after news broke that U.S. media firms had fallen victim to cyberattacks, some of them sustained. The worst case seemed to be at the New York Times, whose expose of former Chinese Premier Wen Jibao’s family fortunes had, it claimed, led to a four-month cyber onslaught, in which email accounts of its correspondents were infiltrated. The octogenarian media tycoon’s claim on his Twitter account drew scores of responses, some pointing out the irony of this. Let us not forget that his firm, News Corp, has previous history on this: Behavior by some journalists on two of his publications caused a Government inquiry into press ethics in the U.K., and brought the British PM, David Cameron, perilously close to the action. Cameron’s then press chief, a former Murdoch consigliere, was forced to step down.
.@rupertmurdoch What sort of awful people would engage in hacking in pursuit of a story? That’s . . . whoops.This is awkward.
— Popehat (@Popehat) February 6, 2013
.@rupertmurdoch don’t you think it’s a little absurd; you to complain about hacking? #potcallingkettleblack
— leonie haimson (@leoniehaimson) February 6, 2013
Rupert Murdoch, however, did not get where he is today by being shy, retiring, or cowardly.
@calebrapoport what do I know about hacking?Nothing until about two years ago.One newspaper guilty several years ago. Nothing since.
— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) February 6, 2013
Perhaps the most interesting reply to Murdoch’s original tweet, however, came from the Anonymous Press Office, itself no stranger to the dark arts of cyber warfare.
@rupertmurdoch No they aren’t.
— Anonymous(@CIApressoffice) February 6, 2013
So what does this mean? Maybe Murdoch’s Twitter account has been hacked by Anonymous in the most lo-fi, ceci-n’est-pas-un-hack kinda way. If this is the case, all Fast Company would like to say is this: Dude, that’s so meta.