'Gay furry hackers' attack Heritage Foundation and release sensitive data related to Project 2025

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Hacktivists steal data from conservative think tank

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A group of self-described “gay furry hackers” have stolen two gigabytes of data from conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation.

The hackers, known as SiegedSec, stole and released the data in retaliation to the think tank's ‘Project 2025’ - a list of policy proposals to be enacted almost immediately after Donald Trump’s inauguration, should he win the election.

The first key takeaway listed on the Project 2025 document states that “It’s past time to lay the groundwork for a White House more friendly to the right.”

Exposing Heritage supporters

SiegedSec got its hands on the data on July 2, which (according to CyberScoop) contains information created between 2007 and November 2022 relating to a right-wing media website known as The Daily Signal, which has ties to the Heritage Foundation.

A member of the group who goes by “vio” told CyberScoop the hacktivist group launched the attack to provide “transparency to the public regarding who exactly is supporting heritage (sic),” and that the data contains “full names, email addresses, passwords, and usernames” of those who have interacted with Heritage.

Some of the data stolen includes US government email addresses, vio says. “This itself can have an impact to heritage’s (sic) reputation and it’ll especially push away users in positions of power.”

SiegedSec says that the attack is part of its “OpTransRights” campaign, which has included attacks against government websites and states with anti-abortion and anti-trans sympathies. This is the second attack the Heritage Foundation has faced this year, with the first forcing the foundation to shut down its network in April.

Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, said that the American right was “in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”

A seperate Heritage spokesperson later added the organization was not “hacked", telling CyberScoop none of its systems were breached at any time, with the incident "a false narrative and an exaggeration by a group of criminal trolls trying to get attention.”

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Benedict Collins
Benedict Collins
Staff Writer (Security)

Benedict has been writing about security issues for close to 5 years, at first covering geopolitics and international relations while at the University of Buckingham. During this time he studied BA Politics with Journalism, for which he received a second-class honours (upper division). Benedict then continued his studies at a postgraduate level and achieved a distinction in MA Security, Intelligence and Diplomacy. Benedict transitioned his security interests towards cybersecurity upon joining TechRadar Pro as a Staff Writer, focussing on state-sponsored threat actors, malware, social engineering, and national security. Benedict is also an expert on B2B security products, including firewalls, antivirus, endpoint security, and password management.