Hackers defaced 49 U.S. House members’ Web sites hours after President Obama delivered his State of the Union address Dec. 28.
The hackers took down all of the Web sites’ material, replacing it with a vulgar string of text: “F— OBAMA!! Red Eye CREW !!!!! O RESTO E HACKER !!! by HADES; m4V3RiCk; T4ph0d4 — FROM BRASIL.”
National Journal screencapped the hacked site of Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-Mo. Click here to see the image (strong language, may not be safe for your workplace).
Most of the hacked Web sites are still down. The hackers hit sites belonging to both Democrats and Republicans as well as the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s Republican Web site.
The hackers, believed to be Brazilian, took down sites administered by GovTrends, an Alexandria, Va.-based contractor. House members can either use the free services of the House information technology department to host their Web sites or go with a vendor.
Eighteen sites administered by GovTrends were hacked in August 2009 because House employees didn’t change their default passwords, which were easy for hackers to deduce. Many of those same sites were hacked again overnight, Politico reports. Carnahan’s Web site, linked above, was also hit in August.
The attacks may have happened while GovTrends was upgrading its systems, Jeff Ventura, a spokesman for the House chief administrative officer, told Politico. The House is also re-evaluating its relationship with GovTrends, Ventura said.
