New York Post hacked with offensive headlines targeting politicians

Update October 28, 12:04 EDT: New York Post told CNN that one of its employees (now fired) was behind the incident.

"The New York Post’s investigation indicates that the unauthorized conduct was committed by an employee, and we are taking appropriate action," the tabloid said.

"This morning, we immediately removed the vile and reprehensible content from our website and social media accounts."

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New York Post confirmed today that it was hacked after its website and Twitter account were used by the attackers to publish offensive headlines and tweets targeting U.S. politicians.

"The New York Post has been hacked. We are currently investigating the cause," the daily newspaper tweeted shortly after removing multiple disturbing tweets published earlier on Thursday.

These offensive headlines and tweets referred to NYC Mayor Eric Adams, D-NY Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, NY Governor Kathy Hochul, Texas Governor Gregg Abbot, R-IL Rep. Adam Kinzinger, as well as U.S. President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.

Currently, there is no information on how the attackers took control of the NY Post's website and verified Twitter account.

The New York Post has been hacked. We are currently investigating the cause.

— New York Post (@nypost) October 27, 2022

This incident follows a similar breach where a threat actor breached the content managing system (CMS) of the American business magazine Fast Company one month ago.

Fast Company was forced to take down its website for approximately two weeks after the hacker pushed racist notifications to its readers' mobile devices using the Apple News platform.

The attack was later claimed by Thrax, a member of the Breached hacking community, who also revealed the extent of the hack and how they breached the site's CMS via its WordPress instance.

American media and publishing giant News Corp, New York Post's owner, also disclosed in February that it was the target of a "persistent" cyberattack.

The attack was discovered in January, and it reportedly allowed threat actors to access emails and documents belonging to News Corp employees, including some journalists.

News Corp's properties include New York Post, Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, and the News UK British newspaper publisher.

A News Corp spokesperson was not available for comment when BleepingComputer reached out earlier today.

Update October 27, 11:16 EDT: Added more info on targeted politicians.