US Election 2020: Trump campaign website is ‘seized’ by hackers

Donald Trump’s campaign website was ‘seized’ by hackers Tuesday who claim to have evidence that ‘completely discredits’ him as a president and proves his ‘criminal involvement’ in the manipulation of the 2020 election. 

A message reading, ‘this site was seized’ appeared briefly on the ‘About’ page of DonaldJTrump.com, before the website was taken offline completely just after 7:20pm.

The message continued that the world ‘has had enough of fake news spreaded [sic] daily by the president … it is time to allow the world to know the truth.’ 

The hackers behind the stunt claimed to have compromised multiple of the president’s devices, giving them ‘full access’ to Trump and his relatives, along with access to confidential information. 

‘Strictly classified information is exposed proving that the Trump gov is involved in the origin of the coronavirus,’ the post read.

‘We have evidence that completely discredits mr trump as a president, proving his criminal involvement and cooperation with foreign actors manipulating the 2020 elections. the US citizens have no choice.’ 

A message reading, ‘this site was seized’ appeared briefly on the homepage of DonaldJTrump.com, before the website was taken offline completely just after 7:20pm.

The hackers behind the stunt claimed to have compromised multiple of the president's devices, that gave them 'full access' to Trump and his relatives, along with access to confidential information

The hackers behind the stunt claimed to have compromised multiple of the president’s devices, that gave them ‘full access’ to Trump and his relatives, along with access to confidential information

TRUMP 2020 STATEMENT ON THE HACK: 

Trump 2020 Communications Director Tim Murtaugh:

‘Earlier this evening, the Trump campaign website was defaced and we are working with law enforcement authorities to investigate the source of the attack.

‘There was no exposure to sensitive date because no of it is actually store on the site. The website has been restored.’ 

The post continued: ‘Today is the day – the whole world can decide if they want to known the truth or not’.  

The hackers then included a link to two cryptocurrency wallets, associated with Monero, a ‘private, secure, and untraceable digital’ cryptocurrency.

They asked viewers of the page to make a donation to either one of the pages to ‘vote’ as to whether the hackers should either share the data they purport to have on the president, or not to share it.  

They said whichever of the links raises the most money by the end of an unspecified deadline will determine their next step.

‘After the deadline we will compare the funds and execute the will of the world,’ the post read. ‘in both cases we will inform you.’  

The page was signed with a encryption key corresponding to an email address at a the non-existent domain, ‘planet.gov’.

Trump’s website was back up and running by 7:45pm. 

Trump 2020 Communications Director Tim Murtaugh later released a statement on the system breach, assuring that no sensitive data had been compromised.

‘Earlier this evening, the Trump campaign website was defaced and we are working with law enforcement authorities to investigate the source of the attack,’ Murtaugh wrote.

‘There was no exposure to sensitive date because no of it is actually store on the site. The website has been restored.’  

Asking people to irreversibly send cryptocurrency to a mysterious address is a common type of online scam. Much like in this instance, the scams usually rely on brief appearances on highly visible platforms, such as celebrity Twitter accounts.

'We have evidence that completely discredits mr trump as a president, proving his criminal involvement and cooperation with foreign actors manipulating the 2020 elections. the US citizens have no choice,' the message read

‘We have evidence that completely discredits mr trump as a president, proving his criminal involvement and cooperation with foreign actors manipulating the 2020 elections. the US citizens have no choice,’ the message read

The hacking comes less than a week after a Dutch researcher allegedly gained access of Trump’s Twitter account after correctly guessing his password, ‘maga2020!’.

Victor Gevers, a security expert, said he was able to access Trump’s direct messages, could author tweets in his name and change the appearance of his profile.

Gevers – who previously managed to log into Trump’s account in 2016 – apparently gained access by guessing Trump’s password on only his fifth attempt.

‘I expected to be blocked after four failed attempts. Or at least would be asked to provide additional information,’ Gevers told De Volkskrant

Twitter, however, denied the report insisting they had no evidence to corroborate Gevers’ claims. 

‘We proactively implemented account security measures for a designated group of high-profile, election-related Twitter accounts in the United States, including federal branches of government,’ a spokesperson for the social media giant said in a statement.   

However, Gevers said the ease in which he allegedly accessed Trump’s account suggested the president wasn’t using basic security measures, such as two-step verification. 

Gevers suggested to VN that he posted a tweet from Trump’s account to draw the president’s attention to the lack of security on his account.

Victor Gevers, a Dutch government worker and leader of non-profit GDI.Foundation which exposes data breaches to the public (pictured), said he managed to guess Trump's Twitter password after seven attempts and accessed his account

Victor Gevers, a Dutch government worker and leader of non-profit GDI.Foundation which exposes data breaches to the public (pictured), said he managed to guess Trump’s Twitter password after seven attempts and accessed his account

Twitter has said it has 'no evidence' that Donald Trump's account was hacked, after Gevers claimed he accessed the president's account using the password 'maga2020!' and shared a satirical Babylon Bee article

Twitter has said it has ‘no evidence’ that Donald Trump’s account was hacked, after Gevers claimed he accessed the president’s account using the password ‘maga2020!’ and shared a satirical Babylon Bee article

The hacker appeared to take credit for a tweet on October 16 where Trump's account shared a satirical Babylon Bee article (above)

The hacker appeared to take credit for a tweet on October 16 where Trump’s account shared a satirical Babylon Bee article (above)

The hacker appeared to take credit for a tweet on October 16 where Trump shared a satirical Babylon Bee article.

‘Twitter Shuts Down Entire Network To Slow Spread Of Negative Biden News https://babylonbee.com/news/twitter-shuts-down-entire-network-to-slow-spread-of-negative-biden-news via @TheBabylonBee,’ Trump’s account tweeted on October 16.

‘Wow, this has never been done in history. This includes his really bad interview last night. Why is Twitter doing this. Bringing more attention to Sleepy Joe & Big T.’

Babylon Bee is a satirical website that, while being pro-Trump, markets itself as being unapologetically fake news.

Trump’s tweet appearing to believe the fictitious story immediately sparked news reports questioning whether he was aware of this fact.

Gevers stopped short of confirming he was behind the tweet but he posted a now-removed tweet suggesting his involvement.

‘It started six years ago. And hopefully, it will be the last time in 2020,’ he wrote.

‘Please switch on two-factor authentication on all your accounts.’