Heritage Foundation Denies That It Was Penetrated by ‘Gay Furry Hackers’ After Bizarre Chat Logs Leak

SiegedSec, a known hacktivist radical composed of self-described “gay furry hackers,” precocious took recognition for breaching a fig of organizations, including The Heritage Foundation, the rightwing think-tank down the controversial Project 2025 initiative. Earlier this week, the unconventional menace histrion claimed that it had pilfered information from the blimpish enactment and would beryllium releasing two gigabytes of it connected its Telegram page.

However, the Heritage Foundation has disputed the conception that it was hacked. Instead, the enactment claims that the radical down the antics “stumbled upon a two-year-old archive of the Daily Signal website that was disposable connected a public-facing website owned by a contractor,” arsenic Noah Weinrich, the Heritage Foundation’s nationalist relations director, told The Intercept. The Daily Signal is simply a blimpish blog that was primitively portion of Heritage but is present a legally abstracted entity. Weinrich told The Intercept: “The communicative of a ‘hack’ is simply a mendacious communicative and exaggeration by a radical of transgression trolls trying to get attention.”

To marque matters worse for the think-tank, an alleged speech betwixt a SiegedSec hacker calling themself “vio” and Mike Howell, a apical enforcement astatine the Heritage Foundation, was leaked to the net earlier this week. The Daily Dot initially reported connected the leak, which vio says was conducted via the chat app Signal and was subsequently made nationalist done a web-accessible substance file. The leak purports to amusement Howell and the hacker aggressively trading barbs with 1 another, arsenic Howell attempts to negociate a “meeting” with the hacker group.

The speech initially starts disconnected with Howell asking vio what the hackers want. Vio’s effect is recorded arsenic follows:

vio: we privation to marque a connection and radiance airy connected who precisely supports the practice foundation. we dont privation thing much than that, not wealth and not fame. we’re powerfully against Project 2025 and everything the practice instauration stands for.

Mike Howell: That’s wherefore you hacked us? Just for that?

vio: yes. it should beryllium evident thats each we privation based connected our past arsenic a hacktivist group, we dont question money.

Later, the speech gets incredibly heated:

Mike Howell: “Are you alert that you won’t beryllium capable to deterioration a furry tiger costume erstwhile you’re getting pounded successful the ass successful the national situation I enactment you successful adjacent year?”

vio: “such unprofessional connection from an enforcement director, would you caput if one shared this?”

Mike Howell: “Please stock widely. I anticipation the connection spreads arsenic accelerated arsenic the STDs bash successful your degenerate furry community.”

At different points successful the conversation, Howell is purported to person told the hacker that their “people turned against nature” and are “degenerate perverts.”

Howell seems to person confirmed, aggregate times, that the speech is real. Daily Dot writer Mikael Thalen reached retired to Howell via X to inquire him if helium could “confirm the authenticity” of the leaked chat. Howell initially responded by accusing Thalen of someway being progressive with the hackers: “I’m alert of your information successful the sexually deviant ‘Furry’ group’s hack,” helium tweeted. After Thalen ignored this provocation, Howell yet said that the speech was real: “send maine a nexus and I’ll corroborate if correct,” helium said, and past added, “Yah that’s me. For sure.”

Security blogger Jackie Singh reached retired to Howell for confirmation and was greeted with akin antics, with Howell accusing them of being progressive with the “Biden team” and claiming that the “Biden team” was down the hack.

“@MHowell, this you man?” idiosyncratic other tweeted, with screenshots of the conversation.

“Yes,” Howell responded.

Later, Howell retweeted screenshots of the speech and claimed that helium had “forced the Gay Furry Hackers to DISBAND.”

Multiple emails from Gizmodo and a telephone telephone to the Heritage Foundation’s property enactment were ignored. A connection to a Heritage Foundation email code associated with Howell besides yielded nary response.