Earlier this year, The New York Times took disciplinary action against an employee who leaked personal information about a group of Jewish business owners.
Personal information of hundreds of Australians began appearing online earlier this year in a private WhatsApp group chat for Jewish business professionals, and affected individuals have reportedly received death threats and vandalism against their companies.
The group, which numbers more than 600 people, was formed in response to the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7 last year.
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A reporter for the paper reportedly shared data from a WhatsApp group chat of Jewish business professionals in Melbourne, Australia, with another person earlier this year, after which sensitive information was published online, leading to death threats and acts of vandalism. (Beata Saurzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Natasha Frost, a New York Times reporter based in Melbourne, Australia, is accused of leaking hundreds of pages of data from private WhatsApp groups for Jewish businesses in the region.
Frost told The Wall Street Journal that he shared the data with just one other person before making it more widely available to anti-Israel protesters.
According to the Wall Street Journal, a New York Times spokesperson said, “We have received reports that a New York Times reporter improperly provided information to assist a subject of an article in their personal matter, a clear violation of our company’s ethics.”
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“This was done without the knowledge or approval of The Times,” the spokesperson said.
Attorney General Mark Dreyfus addresses the media in Canberra, Australia. Dreyfus introduced the bill to officially criminalise doxxing in the wake of the WhatsApp leak in Melbourne, which exposed the personal information of over 600 people. (Martin Ollman/Getty Images)
Frost is currently employed by The New York Times, and issued a statement to The Wall Street Journal through a New York Times spokesman.
“I shared this document with an individual, and its subsequent distribution and misuse occurred entirely without my knowledge or consent,” Frost told The Wall Street Journal.
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She added: “I am shocked by these events which have put me and so many others at great risk and I deeply regret my decision.”
Inspired by the data breach and subsequent harassment, Australia’s Jewish Attorney General, Mark Dreyfus, has proposed legislation that would explicitly ban the leaking of personal information.
“The increased use of online platforms to harm people through activities such as doxxing, the malicious disclosure of personal information without permission, is deeply disturbing,” Dreyfus said.
