A hacker broke into 49 House Web sites of both political parties to post a crude attack on President Barack Obama after his State of the Union address.
Jeff Ventura, spokesman for the House chief administrative officer, said the sites were managed by a private vendor — GovTrends of Alexandria, Va.
Most House Web sites are managed totally by House technicians but individual offices are permitted to contract with a third party to manage new features and updates.
Ventura says GovTrends let its guard down while performing an update, allowing the hacker to penetrate sites of individual members and committees overnight.
The attacker used an obscenity in referring to the president, who spoke from the House chamber Wednesday night.
Ventura said 18 House sites managed by GovTrends were defaced last August. The House is looking into continued use of the company, he said.
Phone messages left for GovTrends were not immediately returned.
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