Burma journalists hit by 'state-sponsored' hacking

Several journalists who cover Burma said Sunday that they had received warnings from Google that their email accounts might have been hacked by "state-sponsored attackers."

The warnings began appearing last week, said the journalists, who included employees of Eleven Media, one of Burma's leading news organisations; Bertil Lintner, a Thailand-based author and expert on Burma's ethnic groups; and a Burmese correspondent for The Associated Press.

Taj Meadows, a Google spokesman in Tokyo, said that he could not immediately provide specifics about the warnings, but said that Google had begun the policy of notifying users of suspicious activity in June. "I can certainly confirm that we send these types of notices to accounts that we suspect are the targets of state-sponsored attacks," Mr Meadows said.