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Anonymous claims to have released Donald Trump’s Social Security number

There's just one catch.

 

Andrew Couts

Tech

Posted on Mar 17, 2016   Updated on May 27, 2021, 1:57 am CDT

Two days after declaring “total war” on Donald Trump, Anonymous hacktivists seem to have made good on their promise. 

There’s just one catch.

A document published to various online repositories contains what its author claims is Trump’s Social Security number, date of birth, address, family members’ names, and other personal information.

The hacktivists also released a video to accompany the Trump data dump, as part of what they’re calling the #OpWhiteRose campaign. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UXQpfm_Ytw

“Donald Trump has set his ambitions on the White House in order to promote an agenda of fascism and xenophobia as well as the religious persecution of Muslims through totalitarian policies,” the video’s narrator says. 

The video goes on to compare Trump to Hitler, coloring the New York businessman’s Republican presidential campaign as the rise of the “Fourth Reich.”

“We have attached a gift of sorts. … That might be able to insist you all in independently investigating this would-be dictator,” the narrator says in reference to Trump’s personal information. “These are provided for informational purposes only.”

Prior to Thursday’s leak, hackers leaked Trump’s voicemails to Gawker, exposing the candidate’s personal conversations. 

In an email to the Daily Dot, Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said law enforcement is currently investigating cyberattacks against the Republican front-runner.

“The government and law enforcement authorities are seeking the arrest of the people responsible for attempting to illegally hack Mr. Trump’s accounts and telephone information,” Hicks said.

Despite the fanfare of the Anonymous-branded campaign, all of the data released on Thursday has been available online since at least 2014 and likely earlier. 

So while Trump might want to look into changing his SSN—assuming that the SSN in the Anonymous dump is accurate—he’s likely taken whatever precautions are available to a man reportedly worth $4 billion.

Update 4:41pm CT, March 17: Added statement from Trump’s campaign.

Photo via Gage Skidmore/Flickr (CC BY SA 2.0)

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*First Published: Mar 17, 2016, 6:15 pm CDT