Revealed: You can easily 'hack' into Trump website yourself
A design flaw in Donald Trump’s official campaign website left it open to manipulation by some mischievous users who changed the website header to whatever they liked, with many choosing a poop emoji, as US voters wait for the election results to roll in.
The quirk caused much amusement online as people rushed to put their own stamp on Trump’s website before the end of one of the most controversial presidential campaigns in US history.
And they certainly didn’t hold back when it came to their feelings about the presidential hopeful.
@BBCWorldpic.twitter.com/rImjttPRAX
— Jamie Wilson (@JamieWilson01) November 8, 2016
This is legit an unedited screenshot if Trump's site. Hilarious. Must be hacked? pic.twitter.com/WhuZqBJ88M
— Jed Whitaker 🍆💦🍑 (@Jed05) November 8, 2016
@josephfcox@xor rough. pic.twitter.com/SP2qUjWjFC
— Chris Bennett (@Caesar_X) November 8, 2016
Did Trump's web site get hacked? https://t.co/9vlibwNEp4pic.twitter.com/6ct5EudY31
— Tony Arcieri (@bascule) November 8, 2016
lmao someone hacked trump's web site and now it says this pic.twitter.com/BUspvcsZmU
— cyber problem box (@vogon) November 8, 2016
@xor@BBrkdwn Well this could be fun... pic.twitter.com/grVSOd4otb
— Andrew Sorg (@andrewsorg) November 8, 2016
@xor@BBrkdwnpic.twitter.com/tjMg2TxrzA
— Andrew Sorg (@andrewsorg) November 8, 2016
The changes to Trump’s website sparked panic with some media outlets, including the BBC, rushing to believe the site had actually been hacked.
Trump website apparently hacked #Election2016https://t.co/7fdAAJBO05pic.twitter.com/YFHhvq5xZK
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) November 8, 2016
A number of Twitter users however were quick to point out that the site was not actually hacked but merely badly designed.
.@BBCWorld Not hacked, just "badly" programmed. pic.twitter.com/ahEf3WiTN6
— Ans (@lookeastwards) November 8, 2016
@junethomas Not hacked. The site will put whatever's in the URL into the header. https://t.co/NuskvJ7cnv
— Jesse Lansner (@Jesselansner) November 8, 2016
Update: Not hacked. You can put anything you like in the URL and it shows up on the Trump site. pic.twitter.com/nd2dB4ME0s
— Luke Appleby (@lukeappleby) November 8, 2016
HAHA Slate said Trump's site was hacked because you can just edit the URL
— Joseph Cox (@josephfcox) November 8, 2016
stop doing tech stuff for a bit guys https://t.co/QOhLhOdPzvpic.twitter.com/Kj6bPmmjLi
The ‘hacks’ were carried out by simply typing the words you wanted to show in the header space into the URL.
Unfortunately those late to the game will be disappointed: It appears the flaw has since been rectified by Trump’s technical team.
