News Corp Was Hit By Cyber Attack And Investigators Say China May Be Responsible.

News Corp., one of the largest media companies in the U.S., announced that it was the victim of a hack that may have exposed the files of its journalists. Cybersecurity investigators suspect that the hack bore the fingerprints of hackers from China.

On Friday, News Corp. revealed that it discovered it was breached on Jan. 20. According to the company, the hackers did not appear to be interested in financial information like subscriber information, leading it to believe that its journalists were the intended target.

News Corp. is the owner of several major outlets including The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, as well as British outlets like The Times and The Sun.

“Our preliminary analysis indicates that foreign government involvement may be associated with this activity, and that some data was taken,” said News Corp. in an email to staff as reported by The Guardian.

News Corp. did not name the country that it believed to be responsible for the attack. Mandiant, a cybersecurity firm retained by News Corp. to examine the attack, said that it believed that Chinese hackers conducted the attack.

“Mandiant assesses that those behind this activity have a China nexus, and we believe they are likely involved in espionage activities to collect intelligence to benefit China’s interests,” said David Wong, vice president of incident response at Mandiant, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Cyberattacks from China have been a concern for U.S. companies and intelligence agencies for years. Christopher Wray, the director of the FBI, recently said that the bureau is investigating thousands of attempts by the Chinese government to steal data from U.S. corporations.

Wray warned that China was conducting these operations to secure its economic dominance and often go undetected, but added that Beijing is also motivated by a desire to build political influence in the U.S. and silence dissenters.

“China may be the first government to combine authoritarian ambitions with cutting-edge technical capability,” Wray said on Tuesday. “It’s like the surveillance nightmare of East Germany combined with the tech of Silicon Valley.”

The Wall Street Journal, a News Corp. company, was among a handful of U.S. outlets set to receive new press credentials for some staff in China after a visa deal was struck to ease restrictions for U.S. and Chinese supporters in November.