Advertisements in Japanese for handbags, backpacks, running shoes, and more began showing up on the website of the U.S. National Archives this week. Hackers managed to compromise a subdomain of the site, eisenhower.archives.gov. Below are screen captures of just two of the unauthorized pages:
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A Google search turns up hundreds of such pages on the site as of Wednesday afternoon. The hack appears to have started some time on Tuesday.
The “eisenhower” portion of the National Archives website is dedicated to the presidential library, museum and boyhood home of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Such hacks of government websites have happened before. As THE WEEKLY STANDARD reported in 2014, a climate change website was commandeered by an online drug seller, and in 2013 a website of the Department of Health and Human Services was found advertising NFL jerseys, Ugg boots, and Armani fragrances. The HHS hack was subsequently investigated by a congressional committee looking into information security at HHS.
An email to the National Archives seeking comment has not been returned several hours later.
