Trump campaign website suffers apparent hack

The Trump campaign’s website suffered a brief, apparent hack on Tuesday evening, though the campaign said no important data was exposed.

“Earlier this evening, the Trump campaign website was defaced and we are working with law enforcement authorities to investigate the source of the attack,” Tim Murtaugh, the campaign’s communications director, said in a statement.

“There was no exposure to sensitive data because none of it is actually stored on the site. The website has been restored,” Murtaugh added. 

The campaign did not immediately provide additional details regarding the incident.

Screenshots taken before the site was restored showed a message reading “this site was seized,” with a message apparently from hackers stating, “the world has had enough of the fake-news spreaded daily by president donald j trump. it is time to allow the world to know truth.” 

The message claimed that those behind the cyberattack had “compromised” several devices to obtain “full access to trump and relatives,” going on to claim that the administration is “involved in the origin” of the coronavirus. 

Trump campaign website now seems to be down. This is part of the message that was showing on the site just a few minutes ago. pic.twitter.com/TR9GnpcMLb

— Donie O’Sullivan (@donie) October 27, 2020

The incident comes exactly one week before Election Day, as tens of millions of voters cast their ballot in the election. Polls have shown that the coronavirus pandemic is the top issue for many voters in the final sprint of the campaign.

Lawmakers and intelligence officials have sounded the alarm that the U.S. is vulnerable to cyberattacks in the election. Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe warned earlier this month that Russia and Iran are conducting efforts to sway public opinions heading into Election Day. 

China is also suspected of being involved in efforts to meddle in the election.