Trump Campaign Website Hit by Hackers Touting Crypto Scam

U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign website was briefly compromised on Tuesday as hackers looked to fleece cryptocurrency from unsuspecting supporters in the final days before the 2020 election.

• The attack, which lasted less than 30 minutes, saw the website defaced with messages claiming the hackers had compromising information on Trump and his family.
• As reported by The New York Times, the hackers were soliciting donations in the monero cryptocurrency due to its privacy-enhancing properties that make it hard to trace.
• The cybercriminals said they had compromised "multiple devices," giving them access to the “most internal and secret conversations” of the president and his inner circle.
• Onlookers were given a choice: they could either donate monero to a wallet that prompted the hackers to "share the data" or another wallet asking them to keep it private.
• Trump's administration was accused without evidence of participating in the spread of COVID-19 and collaborating with “foreign actors manipulating the 2020 elections.”
• The New York Times also reported the website takeover and subsequent solicitation of crypto donations appeared to be a variation on the common crypto "giveaway" scam.
• Such scams ask people to send money to a particular address with the false promise of doubling or returning a victim's funds.
• Similar attacks hit major accounts on Twitter back in July, including that of former Vice President Joe Biden.
• The source of the attack is unclear, but an investigation is currently underway by U.S. law enforcement.
• The incident comes as the U.S. presidential election campaign between incumbent Trump and challenger Biden enters its last week.
• Biden is far ahead of Trump when it comes to donations, according to another NYT article.

See also: Election 2020: What’s at Stake for the Crypto Industry