CBS Confirms Hacking Of Reporter Sharyl Attkisson’s Computer

CBS News has officially confirmed that Sharyl Attkission’s computer was hacked by an as-yet unknown intruder.

Back in May, the Emmy-winning reporter explained that her home and work computers were breached perhaps as a result of her work as an investigative journalist. At that time, during an interview on a Philadelphia radio station, Sharyl Attkisson said that “There’s definitely been an intrusion into my computer system… I really can’t say more than that right now.”

This was of course was way before the NSA PRISM massive domestic surveillance program was leaked by NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

With regard to the James Rosen/Fox News and Associated Press surveillance by the Justice Department, Attkisson added that “there could be some relationship between these types of things and what’s happened to me.”

Attkisson is one of the few mainstream media reporters that covered the Fast and Furious scandal, a botched Obama administration operation that allowed firearms to fall into the hands of drug cartels. These same weapons have been linked to the murder of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry and many others. She’s also been digging into the Benghazi scandal.

In that May radio interview, Attkisson explained that something fishy may have been going on since February 2011 (or even before) when she was covering Fast and Furious and also reported on stories about the taxpayer money spent on failed green energy initiatives “that the [Obama] administration was very sensitive about.”

In a statement released this morning, CBS News confirmed the Attkisson data breach: “A cyber security firm hired by CBS News has determined through forensic analysis that Sharyl Attkisson’s computer was accessed by an unauthorized, external, unknown party on multiple occasions late in 2012. Evidence suggests this party performed all access remotely using Attkisson’s accounts. While no malicious code was found, forensic analysis revealed an intruder had executed commands that appeared to involve search and exfiltration of data. This party also used sophisticated methods to remove all possible indications of unauthorized activity, and alter system times to cause further confusion. CBS News is taking steps to identify the responsible party and their method of access.”

Do you think there is connection between the Attkisson computer hacking and the federal government’s NSA PRISM program?

[Image credit: Honeyplant]

Added:CBS This Morning interview with Sharyl Attkission: