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Congressional sites defaced after Obama speech

Third-party vendor manages 49 House of Representative Web sites that were hacked following president's address, and 18 that were defaced last year, report says.

Headshot of Elinor Mills
Headshot of Elinor Mills
Elinor Mills Former Staff Writer
Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET News in 2005 after working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service and the Associated Press.
Elinor Mills

This is the message hackers left on the pages of members of the U.S. House of Representatives after President Obama's State of the Union address Wednesday night. National Journal

Someone defaced the Web pages of nearly 50 members of the U.S. House of Representatives with an explicit insult to President Obama after he gave his State of the Union address on Wednesday night.

The 49 House Web sites, representing both Democrats and Republicans, were managed by a company called GovTrends, The Associated Press reported on Thursday.

The hacking occurred while GovTrends was performing an update, Jeff Ventura, spokesman for the House chief administrative officer, told the AP.

Last August, 18 House sites managed by GovTrends were also defaced, according to Ventura, who added that the House is reconsidering the business relationship with the Web site service provider.

GovTrends could not be reached for comment late on Thursday.