Trump Campaign Website Defaced

But just briefly, and it appears no sensitive data was accessed
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 28, 2020 1:30 AM CDT
Trump Campaign Website Defaced
President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at MotorSports Management Company, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2020, in West Salem, Wis.   (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The Trump campaign website was briefly defaced Tuesday night, campaign spokesperson Tim Murtaugh says. As Politico puts it, a message posted on the site "borrowed language common to disinformation campaigns designed to demoralize Americans and depress voter turnout, warning that 'the US citizens have no choice.'" It also claimed that "multiple devices" had been hacked and classified info stolen, including evidence the president was involved with the "origin" of the coronavirus and is working with foreign actors to manipulate the election. It asked people to send cryptocurrency to one of two options, depending whether they wanted the hackers to release the information or not release it. TechCrunch has a screenshot.

But according to Murtaugh, who says the attack is being investigated by authorities, "There was no exposure to sensitive data because none of it is actually stored on the site." The website was reportedly back to normal within minutes. Per TechCrunch, there is no evidence the hackers actually have any compromising information or that they accessed any sensitive data in the attack, and they likely "gained access to the donaldjtrump.com web server backend and inserted a long stretch of obfuscated JavaScript producing a parody of the FBI 'this site has been seized' message, which appeared over the normal content." Says US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency director Chris Krebs, "website defacements are noise. Don’t fall for these attempts designed to distract, sensationalize, and confuse. Ultimately they’re trying to undermine your confidence in our voting process." (More President Trump 2020 stories.)

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