UK govt dept website that campaigns against encryption hijacked to advertise ... payday loans

stapp · Jun 25, 2025

A website developed for the UK Home Office's 2022 "flop" anti-encryption campaign has seemingly been hijacked to push a payday loan scheme.
The pwn on the government's No Place to Hide campaign, which cost over half a million pounds to produce, was first spotted by tech policy expert Heather Burns. The website originally featured a daring stunt involving a parent and child locked in a box, and was greeted with negative reception when it was unveiled three years ago.
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Most of the website remains unchanged, however. Burns noticed that as of Tuesday there was a new section plonked in the middle of the home page pushing a payday loan scheme from Leicestershire-registered Wage Day Advance.
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The Register contacted both the Home Office and Wage Day Loans about the finding on Tuesday June 24, and by very early Wednesday morning on June 25 the payday loans section of the website had been removed. By 0930 UK time on Wednesday, it had re-appeared.
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https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/25/home_office_antiencryption_campaign_website/

reasonablePrivacy · Jun 25, 2025

Admins of website probably used telnet over unencrypted Wifi to manage site servers

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UK govt dept website that campaigns against encryption hijacked to advertise ... payday loans

stapp Global Moderator

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UK govt dept website that campaigns against encryption hijacked to advertise ... payday loans

stapp Global Moderator

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