Pentagon-linked influencer celebrates hack of leftist hosting platform after sanctions

The State Department announced sanctions that labeled the Autistici/Inventati (A/I) collective, an Italian group providing hosting for numerous leftist organizations, as a specially designated global terrorist entity. Shortly after, the NoBlogs.org platform operated by A/I suffered a cyber intrusion that altered its homepage and raised concerns about internal user data exposure. Within minutes, the breach was posted on X by the pseudonymous hacker AstraRCE and subsequently highlighted by DataRepublican, the online alias of Jennica Pounds, who had recently taken a position with the Pentagon’s Department of War after a stint in the Pentagon press corps.

Both accounts suggested that the United States government now held the compromised data, posting screenshots and celebratory comments. Autistici/Inventati responded by acknowledging the hack, noting that passwords were stored hashed, and announced its disbandment on September 6, citing the combined pressure of sanctions and the cyberattack. Experts from the Freedom of the Press Foundation and the Electronic Frontier Foundation warned that attribution of such attacks is difficult and highlighted the broader implications of government-linked influencers praising domestic hacking activities.