Japanese publishing giant Nikkei has disclosed two recent security incidents in which attackers compromised employee email accounts and used them to send phishing messages.
In a statement published Sunday, Nikkei said an employee’s Google Workspace account was compromised in late July. The incident exposed personal information belonging to employees and business partners, with the affected data including the names and email addresses of 1,646 people. Nikkei said the breach did not involve information belonging to its readers or interviewees.
The company discovered the compromise in early August after receiving a notification from Google and subsequently changed the affected account’s password.
A separate incident occurred in September when attackers gained access to another employee’s Microsoft 365 account. The compromised account was then used to send around 9,000 phishing emails targeting Nikkei employees and interviewees.
According to Nikkei, the emails were sent on September 30 and contained links to malicious websites. The company said it has since changed the relevant passwords and has not identified any further unauthorized logins. Nikkei also contacted recipients individually and asked them to delete the malicious emails.
The company warned those affected to remain alert for suspicious messages that could impersonate Nikkei or its subsidiaries, as attackers may attempt additional phishing campaigns using information obtained from the incidents.
Nikkei has not identified the threat actor responsible for either attack and has not confirmed whether the two incidents are connected.
The incidents add to a series of security problems disclosed by Nikkei in recent years. Last year, the company reported a breach of its Slack messaging platform that affected more than 17,000 employees and business partners.
In May 2022, Nikkei’s Singapore subsidiary was hit by a ransomware attack that affected a server believed to potentially contain customer information. In September 2019, Nikkei also lost approximately $29 million in a business email compromise attack targeting an employee at Nikkei America.
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Nikkei owns the Financial Times and The Nikkei, one of the world’s largest financial newspapers. The company operates more than 40 affiliated businesses across publishing, broadcasting, events, database services and index operations, with 37 overseas editorial bureaus and more than 1,500 journalists worldwide. It also has more than 3.7 million paid digital subscribers.
