OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The Christian-themed crowdfunding site GiveSendGo has been hacked and the names of donors who gave money to Canadian “Freedom Convoy” truckers have been released online, according to several reports on Monday.
The hack comes after some $9 million was raised for the truckers through the site, which has also had funds blocked and even seized by private banks.
Eventually, the site was restored, but not before hackers allegedly stole the names of donors.
UPDATE: @GiveSendGo restored, hackers claim to have stolen hundreds of gigabytes worth of data
— Honkmaster Poso 🎺 (@JackPosobiec) February 14, 2022
“Distributed Denial of Secrets announced on its website that it had 30 megabytes of donor information from Christian fundraising site GiveSendGo, including names, email addresses, ZIP codes and internet protocol addresses,” Reuters reported.
“A journalist at the Daily Dot digital news outlet said on Twitter that the site suffered a hack overnight and had its front page briefly replaced by a clip from the movie ‘Frozen’ and a manifesto accusing it of supporting ‘an insurrection in Ottawa,'” the outlet continued.
A file allegedly containing tens of thousands of names of those who donated to the Freedom Convoy has also been leaked.
Working to verify further details.
— Mikael Thalen (@MikaelThalen) February 14, 2022
An S3 bucket run by GiveSendGo was found to be leaking pics of drivers licenses, military IDs, passports, & other sensitive docs just days ago.
Source tells me that despite an attempted fix, the bucket was exploited again to allow the takeover of the site https://t.co/2cnPIGMkuo
— Mikael Thalen (@MikaelThalen) February 14, 2022
The hackers also posted an expletive-filled, threatening diatribe against “givesendgo grifters and hatriots” ahead of reports that donors would be doxxed as well.
GiveSendGo appears to have fixed the issue that redirected visitors to a website set up by hackers.
The hackers’ domain at GiveSendGone[.]wtf also appears to be down.
— Mikael Thalen (@MikaelThalen) February 14, 2022
The leaked data appears to include email addresses, IP addresses, zip codes, as well as names (although some users could have used fake names).
— Mikael Thalen (@MikaelThalen) February 14, 2022
The Daily Dot’s Mikael Thalen also posted a video clip showing a scrolling message allegedly posted by the hackers.
Here is the first half of the video uploaded by hackers who targeted the crowdfunding website GiveSendGo.pic.twitter.com/uisu2xjG2U
— Mikael Thalen (@MikaelThalen) February 14, 2022
The hack came ahead of an announcement by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that he was preparing to invoke a former war powers authority that has only been used one other time during peacetime since it was passed.
According to The Daily Mail:
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is reportedly considering invoking the country’s Emergencies Act, which grants powers that have been used only once before in peacetime, to initiate a federal crackdown on Freedom Convoy demonstrators.
Trudeau in a rare Monday meeting with his Liberal Caucus said he planned to invoke the act, but denied having any plans to deploy the military, sources familiar with the matter told the CBC.
Through protesters have been cleared from the key Ambassador Bridge, where about 30 protesters were arrested on Sunday, large demonstrations continue to paralyze the streets of Ottawa and protesters are blockading several border crossings in western Canada.Â
The 1988 Emergencies Act allows the federal government to override the provinces and authorize special temporary measures to ensure security during national emergencies anywhere in the country.Â
The legislation, previously known as the War Measures Act, has been used only three times in Canadian history: during the two world wars and in 1970 by Trudeau’s father, the late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau after militant Quebec separatists kidnapped a British diplomat and a provincial Cabinet minister.Â
The outlet also reported on the GiveSendGo hack, adding that according to Trudeau, at least half of the more than $8.6 million raised on behalf of the truckers came from foreign sources, including the United States.
