Sean Spicer's WHOIS data is public for everyone to see
After an election where data security became a regularly debated hot topic, you'd think everyone in politics would, for lack of better poetry, have their shit together.
But of course, you'd be wrong.
Until very recently, Donald Trump's White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, had his personal website, SeanSpicer.com, listed on his Twitter profile. The site's since been wiped from the internet, but whoever scrubbed Spicer's old WordPress blog forgot to delete an important piece of the pie: Spicer's WHOIS data—or the information behind who registered a website, which left unattended, is publicly-available information—including his home address, and his personal phone number.
SEE ALSO:Hundreds of people are trolling Sean Spicer on VenmoCredit: Screenshot, Who.isWe'd like to point out that Spicer also had a Yahoo email addresslisted when he registered his domain in May of 2009. Yahoo, of course, has had its fair share of data breaches confirmed in recent months.
The WHOIS database documents the owners of domain names, and includes names, addresses, phone numbers, emails, dates, and even IP addresses. While this may seem like a huge security and privacy issue, paying a small fee to your domain registrar can make your WHOIS data private, effectively hiding it from any random person (or media outlet) who decides to look it up.
Apparently, Spicer didn't feel like shelling over the $7.99/year to his domain host GoDaddy to hide his own data.
Credit: Screenshot GoDaddyYou can also search the WHOIS database by email, and using the email listed on his personal site, you can learn that Spicer has a total of 16 websites registered under his Yahoo address, including a defunct site named RateTheReporter.com registered in 2015.
Mashablehas blacked out some of the URLs because they were registered using Spicer’s email address for his family.
Spicer also registered the site TheElephantTrunk.org. Plugging it into the Way Back Machine reveals it was a site that sold Republican ties. Cute!
Since Spicer's phone number was listed right there, we called it. The first time it went straight to voicemail where Spicer identifies himself and ties himself to a GOP email address. It's clearly his voice.
Later we sent him a text asking to confirm that it is indeed his personal phone number, and let him know how we found it. Spicer has yet to return the phone call or text messages.
When we Googled the phone number, it popped up in a Wikileaks DNC email dump where Spicer, then chief strategist and communications director for the Republican National Committee, was asking Luis Miranda, communications director for the Democratic National Committee to hold the next debate "somewhere warm and fun." At the bottom of the email, Spicer had his phone number listed.
This means Spicer had his phone number leaked in the DNC email dump, which appeared on Wikileaks and he didn't change it. After it was on Wikileaks.
We searched the address listed on the WHOIS page to confirm that it was indeed Spicer's home address, at least at one time. The same address shows up with Sean's name listed on a Federal Election Commission donations list for the Americans for Murray Committee. Spicer donated $315 to the campaign.
We plugged the Yahoo email address listed on the account into HaveIBeenPwned, a website that shows if your email address has been compromised in a data breach. Spicer's data? Breached three times: A Dropbox breach in 2012, LinkedIn hack from 2012, and a Myspace breach in 2008. And yes: 'looks like Sean Spicer had a Myspace account, or at least, signed up for one using his Yahoo email address.
Credit: screenshot/haveibeenpwnedAs we stated earlier, Spicer's website has been completely wiped from the internet, so someone at the White House, in government, or Spicer himself realized that it wasn't a good idea for the Press Secretary to have his old WordPress blog out there on the internet. Unfortunately, they didn't do a very good job of wiping the whole thing.
Attempting to view the Archive.org version of the site directs users to a robots.txt file, which someone uploaded to Spicer's site on Friday. This effectively blocks the WayBack Machine from accessing your website.
UPDATE: Feb. 7, 2017, 3:01 p.m. EST Using Google Cache you can still see Spicer's old website. The internet never forgets.
Credit: Google CacheThat said, it's not the first time Spicer's public data has embarrassed him on the internet. In fact, just this week, it was revealed that he had a public Venmo account, prompting hundreds of people to troll him on the financial app by asking him for money.
Tweet may have been deleted
Spicer also sent out a cryptic tweet in January that many speculated was his password. The tweet even got a shoutout during an SNLskit this past weekend where Melissa McCarthy played an angry Spicer during a White House press conference.
While most of this data in Spicer's WHOIS record was already available if someone really wanted to pry hard enough, it does show that the current administration can be clueless when it comes to cybersecurity, themselves—a huge embarrassment, considering how much of a Trump talking point Hillary Clinton's emails were during the election.
Featured Video For You
Sean Spicer just cannot get the Prime Minister of Australia's name right
TopicsCybersecurityPrivacy
(责任编辑:资讯)
- How to watch 'Kinds of Kindness': When is it streaming?
- Korea looks forward to ‘more normal’ this summer
- 时不我待 只争朝夕 大力实施乡村振兴战略
- 'Fleabag' stage show coming to Amazon — for charity
- The Apple iPod: Pocket Music Before That Phone
- The Wonderful World of Christmas Trees
- 发挥司法职能 保护环境资源
- Data from the U.S. Border Patrol show there is no invasion at the Southern border.
- 全市两级法院积极开展扫黑除恶专项斗争相关宣传工作
- CrowdStrike outage is still causing hundreds of flight cancellations daily
- Silver mirror triples efficiency of perovskite solar cells
- The 7 best YouTube cooking channels to up your culinary game
- 单根500米长 30吨重 未来跑火车全靠它
-
Sinner vs. Michelsen 2024 livestream: Watch US Open for free
TL;DR:Live stream Sinner vs. Michelsen in the 2024 US Open for free on 9Now or TVNZ+. Access these f ...[详细] -
雅安日报/北纬网讯6月8日,市食品安全委员会召开2018年第二次全体扩大)会议,要求层层压实工作责任,努力提高食品安全监管工作实效,加大隐患排查和监管执法力度,确保食品安全工作落地落实。在2017年全 ...[详细]
-
What the end of the Iran deal could mean for the Middle East.
Update, May 8, 2018:On Tuesday, President Donald Trump removed the United States from the Iran deal. ...[详细] -
Polaroid Now review: The most accessible instant camera to date
The Polaroid Now brings a lot of new features to the table, including a first-of-its-kind autofocus ...[详细] -
Best smart home deals this week
Our top picks:Best smart speaker dealEcho Dot (5th gen) with a free Sengled Smart Color Bulb$49.99 a ...[详细] -
S. Korea, Britain to discuss cooperation in defense industry
(Yonhap)South Korea and Britain were to hold an annual meeting on defense industry cooperation Tuesd ...[详细] -
North Korea continues activities at Yongbyon but no clear sign of spent fuel rods transfer: report
In this March 26 file photo, commuters watch a TV showing file imagea of North Korean leader Kim Jon ...[详细] -
雅安市实验幼儿园2018“绘本主题轻器械团体操”六一庆祝活动圆满落幕
活动现场5月31日上午,为迎接全国“六一”国际儿童节,雅安市实验幼儿园围绕“绘本主题轻器械团体操”内容,在雅安市体育馆举办了一场主题为“快乐健康 生命飞扬”的文艺汇演活动。孩子们独特的表演把广大家长与 ...[详细] -
With more ballot initiatives ready to go before voters, supporters of reproductive rights are hoping ...[详细]
-
全球限量款!植物界的“大熊猫”,只在广东! | 绿野寻踪_南方+_南方plus♪ 眼前的“杜鹃”不是杜鹃♪♪你说的“山茶”是什么山茶♪河源堇菜又是什么菜?听说堇菜能清热解毒能采摘做成“冰广式”吗?与恐 ...[详细]
- Apple Intelligence is now a little easier to get outside the U.S.
- 全球限量款!植物界的“大熊猫”,只在广东!
- The importance of comforting sweets in the Harry Potter world
- US, Australia share commitment to UNSC resolutions on North Korea: Blinken
- 10 Places to Get to Know Paul Bunyan
- 丰富少年儿童精神文化生活 培育践行社会主义核心价值观
- Osaka rallies to oust Gauff while Barty advances at Cincinnati