President Trump's Campaign Website Hacked in a Cryptocurrency Scam

Yesterday President Donald Trump's campaign website was seized by cryptocurrency hackers who took over the website and posted their own message alleging they have access to confidential government information.

The Message and What Happened

In typical hacker fashion, the message posted on President Trump's campaign website was full of grammatical, capitalization, and punctuation errors indicating it probably came from a hacker group outside the U.S. It reads as though written by a fifth-grader.

The message indicated that multiple devices belonging to President Trump and his relatives were compromised, which gave the thieves classified information. Their opening line was, "the world has had enough of the fake-news spreaded daily by president donald j trump."

The awkwardly-worded message goes on to imply that they have "full access" to classified information proving that the Trump government was involved in the origins of the Coronavirus. They also claim they have evidence discrediting him through criminal acts with foreign actors to manipulate the U.S. election. The ominous last line was, "The US citizens have no choice."

Although it's unclear, it appears the hack was intended to scam the president and collect cryptocurrency in a lottery of sorts. Along with the message, the culprits provided two Monero (a form of cryptocurrency) addresses. Monero is easy to use but difficult to trace, which is why it is often used by malicious criminals looking to scam an audience. 

One of the Monero addresses could be used by people who wanted to know the truth and the other by those wanting the information to be kept secret. The hackers would then compare which got the highest amount and would either release the information or not. You could purchase the classified information with cryptocurrency if you wanted. The hackers include in their message, "After the deadline, we will compare the funds and execute the will of the world. "In both cases, we will inform you."

The hack also included a PGP public key. However, it was assigned to a non-existent domain (planet.gov).

Within minutes the website was restored back to normal, and Tim Murtaugh reassured the public via Twitter that no sensitive data was accessed or leaked. He said, "There was no exposure to sensitive data because none of it is actually stored on the site.” He also concluded with the president and his staff are working with law enforcement to find the hackers.

Unfortunately, the public responded with doubts on Trump's ability to protect U.S. citizens and the country if he cannot protect his own website. One medical professional posted, "If Trump can't even secure his own campaign website, then how can he secure the country? If he can't protect himself from the Coronavirus, how can he protect everyone else? What a joke."

How the Hack was Discovered

Gabriel Lorenzo Greschler  first noted the hack on Tuesday, October 27 around 4 p.m. PST and posted it on Twitter with a screenshot.

Security researchers theorize that the cybercriminals used a piece of JavaScript to imitate the FBI's warning "this site has been seized." The U.S. government insists that no classified information has been accessed by threat actors or anyone else. They are working hard to trace the source of the attack. 

The Countdown to the Election is a Dangerous Time

Right now, any website linked to the U.S. presidential campaign is at high-risk due to non-U.S. government-backed hackers looking to affect the outcome. Although this particular event has not been linked to any such group as of yet, it is unclear the motivation for the attack. 

Donald Trump's Twitter account was also recently hacked by Dutch hacker Victor Gevers who simply guessed his password "maga2020!" Additionally, hotels, where Trump has stayed in the recent past have also been hacked. 

Microsoft security professionals also caught Iran-based hackers trying to breach President Trump's reelection campaign websites almost a year ago. 

Although upsetting, President Trump's website's defacing is the least of security professionals' worries right now. In the upcoming few days before the Nov 3 election, we are bound to see various attacks on voter registration, votes, and other election-related resources. Those entities most at risk are local government offices and those who handle ballots. 

How Voters Can Protect Themselves

As we count down the days to the final election, voters need to be on the lookout for anything suspicious.

• Do not open emails claiming to be about the election or your voter registration.
• Do not click links in any email.
• Hand deliver your ballot to your town hall rather than mail it (if you have concerns about the mail being tampered with).
• Do not visit malicious websites claiming to have information about the election.
• Hang up on scam callers who call regarding your voter registration.
• Keep all your devices updated with the latest security patches.
• Install antivirus/anti-malware software and run deep scans often.