A group of self-proclaimed \u201cgay furry hackers\u201d says it breached the Heritage Foundation<\/a> earlier this month, releasing two gigabytes of the right-wing think tank\u2019s internal data<\/a> on Tuesday. On its Telegram channel, the hacktivist collective SiegedSec \u2014 which has previously claimed responsibility for hacking NATO\u2019s computer systems<\/a> \u2014 said the Heritage hack was part of its #OpTransRights campaign, which also targeted the far-right media outlet Real America\u2019s Voice<\/a> and the Hillsong megachurch. The group also cited their objections to Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation\u2019s policy proposal for a second term for former President Donald Trump, as a motivating factor.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In an email to The Verge<\/em>, Heritage Foundation spokesperson Noah Weinrich denied that Heritage had been hacked, calling it a \u201cfalse narrative and an exaggeration by a group of criminal trolls trying to get attention.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cAn organized group stumbled upon a two-year-old archive of The Daily Signal website that was available on a public-facing website owned by a contractor,\u201d Weinrich said in an emailed statement. \u201cThe information obtained was limited to usernames, names, email addresses, and incomplete password information of both Heritage and non-Heritage content contributors, as well as article comments and the IP address of the commenter. No Heritage systems were breached at any time, and all Heritage databases and websites remain secure, including Project 2025. The data at issue has been taken down, and additional security steps have since been taken as a precaution.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Heritage Foundation claims the alleged hack was an exaggeration for attention, but in the meantime, Mike Howell, the executive director of the foundation\u2019s Oversight Project, has triumphantly taken credit for disbanding \u201cthe Gay Furry Hackers.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n SiegedSec has released chat logs<\/a> of a conversation one of its members claimed to have with Howell on Signal. The chat logs show a person who claims to be Howell asking a SiegedSec member why the group hacked the Heritage Foundation and threatening to expose the hackers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n We are in the process of identifying and outting members of your group<\/p>\n Reputations and lives will be destroyed\u00a0<\/p>\n Closeted Furries will be presented to the world for the degenerate perverts they are\u00a0<\/p>\n You cannot hide Your means are miniscule compared to mine.\u00a0You now can either turn yourself in or you can cooperate<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Howell confirmed the legitimacy of the messages in an X exchange with a Daily Dot<\/em> reporter<\/a>. \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Weinrich did not comment on the alleged messages between Howell and SiegedSec.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The messages also show Howell claiming to be \u201ctied up with the fbi issuing a 2702 order\u201d on SiegedSec\u2019s social media. SiegedSec has indeed disbanded, a decision its members attribute to<\/a> their \u201cown mental health, the stress of mass publicity, and to avoid the eye of the FBI.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cMike\u2019s threats and insults showed anger that confirmed what Heritage denied.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n A SiegedSec representative who goes by vio told The Verge<\/em> they \u201ccompletely expected\u201d Heritage to deny that it had been hacked. \u201cMany companies try denial to save face,\u201d vio said. \u201cThe server we hacked was linked to The Daily Signal, and the server was named \u2018first-heritage-foundation\u2019. Clearly, Heritage was genuinely hacked.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cMike\u2019s threats and insults showed anger that confirmed what Heritage denied,\u201d vio said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In a statement on Telegram, SiegedSec said the goal of the hack was to draw attention to \u2014 and combat \u2014 the Heritage Foundation\u2019s anti-LGBT and anti-abortion policy proposals.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe Heritage Foundation is a conservative think tank in America, among the most influential public policy organizations,\u201d one SiegedSec member wrote on Telegram. \u201cThis organization is responsible for leading Project 2025, an authoritarian Christian nationalist plan to reform the United States government.\u201d The hacked data, which was reviewed by CyberScoop<\/em><\/a>, includes Heritage Foundation blogs and material related to The Daily Signal, a news website affiliated with the organization.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Heritage published Project 2025<\/a>, its sweeping recommendations for a second Trump term, in April 2023, with a \u201cbroad coalition\u201d of more than 100 other conservative organizations. The 900-plus-page \u201cmandate for leadership\u201d touches on virtually every sector of the executive branch, from the White House to the bevy of federal agencies under the president\u2019s control. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Broadly speaking, its recommendations involve expanding presidential power, purging federal agencies of career employees, and replacing them with Trump loyalists. The mandate calls for dismantling entire federal departments \u2014 including the departments of Commerce, Education, and Homeland Security, the latter of which would be replaced with a new agency that is more extreme in its mission and less subject to oversight. Project 2025 also urges Trump to reverse the Food and Drug Administration\u2019s approval of abortion pills, eliminate policies that promote \u201cabortion as health care,\u201d outlaw pornography, and shut down \u201ctelecommunications and technology firms that facilitate its spread.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The mandate\u2019s chapter on the Federal Communications Commission \u2014 written by Brendan Carr<\/a>, the agency\u2019s head under Trump \u2014 calls for the imposition of \u201ctransparency rules on Big Tech\u201d and an overhaul of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act<\/a>, the law that states that \u201cinteractive computer services\u201d can\u2019t be treated as the publishers or speakers of third-party content published on their platforms. Carr claims that Section 230 allows tech companies to \u201ccensor protected speech,\u201d echoing claims that major social media companies suppress right-wing viewpoints.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Trump recently attempted to distance himself from Project 2025, claiming he has \u201cno idea\u201d who is behind the plan \u2014 even though a CNN analysis<\/a> found that more than 140 former members of his administration were involved in drafting the mandate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n