Self-described “gay furry hackers” behind a group dubbed SiegedSec on Wednesday released text exchanges between Heritage Foundation executive Mike Howell and a member of the hacker group. The texts followed a leak of nearly two gigabytes of data from The Daily Signal, the Heritage Foundation’s blog site.
In the texts, Howell appears apoplectically humorless, oscillating between threats to expose the hackers and hopes for violence against them. Howell is a columnist for the Daily Signal, the site whose subscriber data SiegedSec leaked amid a spree of other leaks. The hacked data included the “full names, email addresses, passwords, and usernames” of people associating with the Heritage Foundation, one spokesperson of the gay furry hacktivists said, in order to shed “transparency to the public regarding who exactly is supporting” the conservative think tank.
“Are you aware that you won’t be able to wear a furry tiger costume when you’re getting pounded in the ass in the federal prison I put you in next year?” Howell asked a member of SiegedSec who identified themselves as “vio.”
“Please share widely,” Howell told the hacker group after they asked if they could release their text exchanges with Howell. “I hope the word spreads as fast as the STDs do in your degenerate furry community.”
“meow :3” vio responded.
“Bestiality is a weird sin. It shows you’ve gone a “few clicks” too far in trying to satiate your deviant appetite,” Howell continued.
Vio cheekily replied, “whats ur opinion on vore.” Howell elevated the text exchange, which he confirmed to the DailyDot as authentic, by posting lyrics to Eminem’s “The Way I Am.”
During their conversation, Howell promised to reveal the identity of the hackers, declaring “Closeted Furries will be presented to the world for the degenerate perverts they are.” This proved unintimidating, as vio reassured him none of their members would be identified and that their hack is small potatoes compared to the Heritage Foundation’s aspirations. “the rights your org violates will be 10x worse than any crime ive committed,” vio told Howell. “you do not follow god if you use religion as a crutch to hate people. while i hide behind a screen to fight for my rights, you hide behind religion to attack the rights of others.”
Following the release of the text exchanges, Howell took to X (formerly Twitter) to falsely accuse someone reviewing the leak of being involved. Howell also declared “complete and total victory” that he “forced the Gay Furry Hackers to DISBAND” after the group posted that their Heritage hack would be their last. SiegedSec has claimed credit for over two years of hacktivism against far-right sites, as well as hacking NATO, twice, and a nuclear lab to demand it create catgirls.
SiegedSec stated they hacked the Heritage Foundation’s Daily Signal in rejection of Project 2025, which they describe as “an authoritarian Christian nationalist plan to reform the United States government.” The hack is part of the group’s campaign against anti-trans organizations and websites dubbed #OpTransRights. While claiming the Heritage hack would be their last, SiegedSec also stated that in addition to releasing their texts with Howell, they “have an extra surprise for him coming soon~.”
