U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign website was briefly compromised on Tuesday as hackers looked to fleece cryptocurrency from unsuspecting supporters in the final days before the 2020 election.
- The attack, which lasted less than 30 minutes, saw the website defaced with messages claiming the hackers had compromising information on Trump and his family.
- As reported by The New York Times, the hackers were soliciting donations in the monero cryptocurrency due to its privacy-enhancing properties that make it hard to trace.
- The cybercriminals said they had compromised “multiple devices,” giving them access to the “most internal and secret conversations” of the president and his inner circle.
- Onlookers were given a choice: they could either donate monero to a wallet that prompted the hackers to “share the data” or another wallet asking them to keep it private.
- Trump’s administration was accused without evidence of participating in the spread of COVID-19 and collaborating with “foreign actors manipulating the 2020 elections.”
- The New York Times also reported the website takeover and subsequent solicitation of crypto donations appeared to be a variation on the common crypto “giveaway” scam.
- Such scams ask people to send money to a particular address with the false promise of doubling or returning a victim’s funds.
- Similar attacks hit major accounts on Twitter back in July, including that of former Vice President Joe Biden.
- The source of the attack is unclear, but an investigation is currently underway by U.S. law enforcement.
- The incident comes as the U.S. presidential election campaign between incumbent Trump and challenger Biden enters its last week.
- Biden is far ahead of Trump when it comes to donations, according to another NYT article.
https://www.coindesk.com/trump-campaign-website-compromised-by-hackers-for-crypto-giveaway-scam
