--- title: "Project 2025 Exec Loses Mind, Threatening “Furry Perverts” After Embarrassing Hack" description: "After self-described gay furry hackers breached the Heritage Foundation, an exec with the think tank has completely lost it." date: "2024-07-11" modified: "2024-07-11" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/project-2025-gay-furry-hackers-response" categories: - "Cybersecurity" - "Future Society" - "Hacking" tags: - "hackers" - "politics" - "the digest" - "trans rights" --- # Project 2025 Exec Loses Mind, Threatening “Furry Perverts” After Embarrassing Hack ![After self-described gay furry hackers breached the Heritage Foundation, an exec with the think tank has completely lost it.]() *\Image: Paul Morigi for Accountable.US / Getty\* ## Political Fursona An executive from the conservative Heritage Foundation has veritably lost his cool after a self-described "gay furry hacker" group breached the hard right activist group's controversial "Project 2025" website. SiegedSec, the group in question, released earlier this week a [cache of files]() from the policy organization's manifesto that seeks to reshape the American government to support its radically regressive agenda that includes ending same-sex marriage and making it legal to discriminate based on sex and gender. Undertaken as part of a campaign that also saw SiegedSec hacking into [other conservative and religious sites]() over their opposition to transgender rights and identities, the group accessed Heritage's servers and released a bunch of data about the group's members. Unsurprisingly, folks at the Heritage Foundation were furious. In [leaked chat logs]() — the veracity of which was confirmed by a member of the organization to the *Daily Dot —* Mike Howell, who acts as both a so-called investigative reporter associated with the think tank's *Daily Signal* news outlet and as an executive with its [Oversight Project](), went berserk over the breach. Howell had, per the chat transcripts, reached out first to the group on Signal to discuss the hack. After seeming to be taken aback by the group's pro-trans motivations, he then went on the offensive when speaking to "vio," a handle used by one of the group's leaders. "We are in the process of identifying and outing members of your group," the conservative reporter, who also served as a Department of Homeland Security during the Trump administration, wrote. "Reputations and lives will be destroyed. Closeted Furries will be presented to the world for the degenerate perverts they are." ## Bad Rap Howell's fury was only beginning. "You cannot hide," he continued. "Your means are miniscule \[sic\] compared to mine. You now can either turn yourself in or you can cooperate." Vio, in response, held their ground and began mocking Howell. "You want me to cooperate? \[W\]ith what, spreading misinformation and hatred?" they retorted. "We wont \[sic\] turn against our own people." That was when things got really nasty. "Your own people turned against nature," the Heritage lackey wrote. "We will only accelerate the cycle." After railing about the "vicious" nature of nature, Howell then began making overt threats. "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?" he asked. It's a nasty bit of work that demonstrates well the entitlement of a group that seeks to forcibly overhaul the US government — and, it seems, gets impotently furious at any setback. **More on hackers:** [*The Gathering of the Juggalos' Payment Processer Appears to Have Been Hacked, Stealing Ticket Buyers' Money*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()