(Image Source: The Guardian ) BY KATIE BRENNAN The New York Times says its computer systems have been attacked by hackers from China for the past four months. CNN explains how the four-month-long cyber attack started around the same time as a controversial story published by the Times. “The timing of the attack, related or not, happens to coincide with the Times’ investigative report that revealed that relatives of China's prime minister have accumulated billions of dollars from business deals.” The Times article detailing the hacking attacks says after the paper published the piece on Wen Jiabao, it received  warnings from Chinese government officials that the investigation would “have consequences” That falls in line with TechCrunch’s report the attacks are the latest of several repercussions the Times has been dealt since it published that piece. “After it was published, the English- and Chinese-language Web sites of the New York Times were blocked in China. At the beginning of this month, New York Times reporter Christopher Buckley left China after he was denied a new journalist’s visa.” At one point, the hackers had access to every employee password. Forbes writer Andy Greenberg says , it’s bad for The Times, but even worse for its antivirus firm, Symantec. The company detected only one of 45 different pieces of malware on the Times’ system. “Having your email hacked and malicious software spread on your servers for months may be embarrassing. But being outed as the antivirus vendor that failed to catch the vast majority of that malware is likely more humiliating still.” Wired says this attack is part of a campaign against western media outlets by Chinese hackers that has been going on since 2008. Bloomberg has a personal take . “Don’t forget that ourselves back in June, Bloomberg.com was, of course, subject to some attacks as well after we had a similar piece on the incoming president and that of course is Li Keqiang.” The Atlantic Wire boils it down to this: “At the end of the day, The Times got their big hacking story. China reminded us that it's up to no good. And we got a lot of anxiety about what's in our inbox.”