Hong Kong-based journalism professionals suffer cyber attack in Britain

LONDON: China has been yet again alleged of orchestrating 'government-backed attacks' on a news organisation from Britain being run by Hong Kong journalists.
Although Chinese authorities have denied any association with the event, analysts believe this case highlights that Hong Kong journalism professionals are facing severe difficulties at home and overseas.
The Chaser, a news website by Hong Kong journalists in Britain on Tuesday, reported that Google had recently informed the diaspora-run media outlet of its company email being targeted by "government-backed attacks."
Presumably, China is behind these attacks. Analysts over the matter say that the case highlights the rising difficulties of Hong Kong journalists at home and overseas, Voice of America reported.
'The Chaser' reported about the incident relating to the website, and also included a screenshot of the email from Google about the attack, highlighting the severity of the attack in a high-risk category.
According to Google, only 0.1 per cent of users worldwide have been subjected to similar attacks orchestrated on Chaser. These attacks could include attempts to steal passwords or personal information of users via emails, which could contain harmful attachments, harmful software download links or links to fake websites.
According to the VOA report, The Chaser claimed that it immediately reviewed all its online security measures after receiving such a notice from Google and had taken adequate countermeasures.
Further, the Chaser said in a statement, "At a time when Hong Kong's press is mired in the White Terror, the invisible black hand has unscrupulously reached out to the diaspora media overseas. Our team members are from Hong Kong and came to the UK three years ago, hoping to continue chasing news on free soil. In today's turbulent world of press freedom in Hong Kong, there is no way out. Our team strongly condemns all threats to press freedom and pledges to remain at our posts."
The VOA claimed that their efforts to get a response from the Chinese Embassy in Britain were unsuccessful, but the Chinese Embassy in Washington denied that China was involved in the cyberattack.
The VOA report also revealed that the same news organisation had last month released an investigative report claiming that the Chinese Embassy in Britain had pressured Dragons Teaching, a British publishing house, in 2018 to remove the phrase "Republic of China" from chapters about Taiwan in Chinese textbooks. The Republic of China is Taiwan's official name.
The publishing house over time surrendered to Beijing, according to the report published by The Chaser. These textbooks are being used in exams for secondary school courses in Britain. The Chinese Embassy in Britain had also declined to comment on the questioned incident and the published report, even though other British media organisations had picked up the story.
Beijing is relentless in its global campaign to quash any recognition of the democratically ruled island -- no matter how small, the report added.
This cyberattack on The Chaser comes at a time when journalists in Hong Kong continue to remain under increasing pressure from the Chinese authorities.
Previously, the Hong Kong Journalists association, in a statement, claimed that from June to August this year, several journalists, their families, employers, landlords or neighbours have been harassed and intimidated using different ways on the internet in their daily lives.
VOA quoted Benson Wong, a Hong Kong political scholar residing in Britain, who believes that the attacks on The Chaser who claimed that the attack is meant to send a signal that Hong Kong journalists who make critical remarks about China cannot expect to be safe from interference or even attacks just because they move overseas.