Hackers Deface U.S. Army Websites With Anti-Trump Messages in Apparent Hacktivist Attack

The U.S. Army has restored two of its websites after hackers altered their error pages to display political messages criticising President Donald Trump and expressing support for Kurdish independence. The incident marks another example of cyber attackers compromising U.S. government systems in recent months.

According to CyberScoop, which first reported the incident, security researcher Ronald Lovelace discovered that the custom error pages on two Army-operated websites had been modified. The affected sites belonged to the Open Innovation Lab and the AI Integration Centre, organisations responsible for testing and integrating artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies for the U.S. Army.

Rather than appearing on the websites’ main pages, the unauthorised messages were displayed whenever visitors attempted to access non-existent web addresses, causing the sites’ error pages to load.

The altered pages included political statements targeting President Donald Trump, describing him with inflammatory accusations and labelling him a “thief.” The messages appeared to reference Trump’s repeated mentions in files held by the U.S. Department of Justice concerning the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The hackers also mentioned Tom Barrack, the current U.S. ambassador to Turkey, while displaying messages advocating for a “free Kurdistan.”

According to CyberScoop, the altered pages remained publicly accessible as recently as Monday. After being notified by the publication, the U.S. Army removed the affected pages.

The Army has not disclosed how the attackers modified the websites.

Publicly available information indicates that the affected websites run on WordPress and rely on several plug-ins, which can sometimes become targets for attackers if vulnerabilities exist or software is not fully updated.

At this stage, authorities have not indicated whether the incident resulted in unauthorised access to sensitive information or the theft of any data.

CyberScoop reported that the U.S. Army has launched an investigation into the breach to determine how the compromise occurred and assess its overall impact.

Website defacement is a tactic frequently used by hacktivist groups seeking to promote political causes or draw attention to particular issues. While many of these attacks are intended primarily as acts of digital protest, they can also cause operational disruption and, in some cases, lead to broader cybersecurity concerns.

Earlier this year, hacktivists targeted systems belonging to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, publishing a large collection of records related to contracts that support immigration enforcement activities, including operations carried out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Separately, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed another cybersecurity incident this week after hackers compromised one of the agency’s intelligence-sharing platforms, a system used to exchange information among federal, state, and local government agencies. Investigations into both incidents remain ongoing.