A federal government website was hacked to show messages vowing revenge for the death of Iran’s most powerful commander and a doctored photograph of President Donald Trump being punched in the jaw. The intrusion was consistent with the work of low-level nationalist Iranian hackers, experts told the New York Times. For an unspecified amount of time starting Saturday, the website of the Federal Depository Library Program featured the altered photograph superimposed over a map of the Middle East, accompanied by a tribute to Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, whose killing in a U.S. drone strike on Friday prompted worldwide political upheaval. “Hacked by Iran Cyber Security Group Hackers,” text on the website read before it was put back online. “This is only small part of Iran’s cyber ability!”
The program, administered by the U.S. Government Publishing Office, helps the public access government documents on a wide variety of subjects — including bills, regulations and studies — in more than 1,100 libraries. Its website was taken down for 24 hours as officials conducted a security analysis and put back online Sunday after they found that “none of the site’s data was compromised,” said agency spokesman Gary Somerset. A spokeswoman for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which is under the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement that there was no confirmation that hackers sponsored by Iran were behind the attack. The hack came as experts and officials have warned of possible cyberattacks in the wake of General Suleimani’s killing.