Hackers Break Into 49 US House Sites, Blast Obama

On 29 Jan 2010

It seems that not everyone likes Barack Obama, the current president of the good old US of A. A total of 49 House of Representatives websites were recently broken into by unknown hackers who apparently belong to the Red Eye Crew – the sites belonged to both parties. After breaking into these sites, the hackers posted this insulting message, addressed to president Obama (who spoke from the House chamber on Wednesday night):

“F*** Obama! Red Eye CREW !!!!! O RESTO E HACKER !!! by HADES; m4V3RiCk; T4ph0d4 — FROM BRASIL.”

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Chief Administrative Office’s spokesman, Jeff Ventura, said that 3rd party vendors managed the sites the hacker hit. Most lawmakers' Web sites are managed by House technicians; these sites were not affected by the attack. It would seem the attack was facilitated by the fact that the vendor was performing an update and for a brief moment let its guard down. Apparently that was enough for the hacker who seized he opportunity and broke into the 49 sites.

As you can imagine, this incident did not go down well. The House's chief administrative officer, Daniel Beard, received a letter from Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican leader John Boehner in which the tow demanded an “mmediate and comprehensive assessment of how hackers were able to deface the Web sites of nearly fifty House members and committees.” The two asked the 3rd party vendor who was hacked be assessed; they also asked the security standards of all House contractors be reviewed.

"We also request that you take immediate action to protect against breaches of the House firewalls and to ensure Web site security of all House offices," Pelosi and Boehner said.

The following offices and committees were hit by the attack: