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Government Website Hacked With Pro-Iran Messages Targeting Trump

The website was hacked over the weekend with pro-Iran messages and an altered image of Trump being punched in the jaw.

A federal government website was hacked over the weekend by alleged low-level Iranian nationalist hackers targeting President Trump following the U.S. assassination of Iran’s top general, The New York Times reported Monday. The attacks started on Saturday when the website of the Federal Depository Library Program featured an altered photograph of President Trump being punched in the jaw overlying a map of the Middle East, along with a tribute to Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani. A spokeswoman for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said that there has been no confirmation that Iran-sponsored hackers were behind the attack. The government program is administered by the United States Government Publishing Office and helps the public access government documents in more than 1,100 libraries around the country.

The website was taken down for 24 hours following the hack and a spokesman for the office, Gary Somerset, said that “none of the site’s data was compromised,” adding that his office “continues to coordinate with the appropriate authorities to investigate the origins of the intrusion.” Soon after Suleimani’s assassination, the Department of Homeland Security warned the public of possible cyberattacks. James Lewis, a former government official and cybersecurity expert, said that the hack was likely a “low-budget hack of the sort Iran’s ‘patriot hackers’ are known for, including the cheesy imagery.”