The Heritage Foundation’s Mike Howell called the hacktivists ‘degenerate perverts’ and threatened to ‘out’ them in response
A group of self-proclaimed “gay furry hackers” has claimed responsibility for breaching the data servers of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank whose ‘Project 2025’ manifesto calls for a radical right-wing reshaping of the US government under Donald Trump.
The group, calling itself ‘SiegedSec’, announced the hack on Tuesday by posting a link on Telegram supposedly containing the passwords, email addresses, and full names of every Heritage Foundation member. However, the link has since been taken down, and according to media reports, no other sensitive information has been released.
“Project 2025 threatens the rights of abortion healthcare and LGBTQ+ communities in particular. So of course, we won’t stand for that!” the group declared on Telegram.
However, the Heritage Foundation appeared unbothered by the breach. In a chat log published by SiegedSec on Wednesday, a hacker calling themselves ‘vio’ tells Heritage Foundation executive Mike Howell that they carried out the cyberattack to “shine [a] light on who exactly supports the heritage foundation.”
“That’s why you hacked us? Just for that?” Howell replied, before threatening to identify the hackers and lecturing them on their lifestyle.
“God created nature, and nature’s laws are vicious,” he wrote. “It is why you have to put on a perverted animal costume to satisfy your sexual deviances. Closeted Furries will be presented to the world for the degenerate perverts they are.”
‘Furries’ are members of a fetish subculture who dress in anthropomorphic animal costumes, trade erotic art, and meet at conventions, primarily in the US.
Howell told ‘vio’ that he had reported the group to the FBI. Within an hour, SiegedSec announced on Telegram that it would be disbanding “for our own mental health…and to avoid the eye of the FBI.” It is unclear whether Howell’s actions influenced this decision, but the Heritage executive took to social media to claim “complete and total victory” regardless.
In the months leading up to the Heritage Foundation hack, SiegedSec claimed responsibility for hacking a slew of companies linked to the Israeli military, a Catholic university in the US, an AI chatbot company, and NATO’s headquarters. The NATO hack had “nothing to do with the war between Russia and Ukraine,” SiegedSec wrote on Telegram, explaining that it targeted the military bloc over some member states’ support for Israel and alleged “attacks on human rights.”
The Heritage Foundation has received extensive media coverage in recent weeks since the publication of ‘Project 2025’. This 900-page document sets out how Trump could go about gutting federal agencies, neutralizing the power of US intelligence agencies, staffing his cabinet with loyalists, and implementing severe restrictions on immigration and abortion rights.
US President Joe Biden has portrayed the manifesto as a Trump-endorsed blueprint to “destroy America,” despite Trump apparently having no hand in its creation. “I know nothing about Project 2025,” the former president wrote on his Truth Social platform on Thursday. “I have not seen it, have no idea who is in charge of it, and, unlike our very well received Republican Platform, had nothing to do with it.”
“The Radical Left Democrats are having a field day, however, trying to hook me into whatever policies are stated or said. It is pure disinformation on their part,” he added.
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