Hacker targets Utah Gun Exchange, revealing usernames and emails

An anonymous hacker accessed databases associated with Utah Gun Exchange last week, dumping information linked to tens of thousands of users.

The Salt Lake Tribune has reviewed the leaked information, which was released on a hacking forum. Data includes email addresses, usernames and hashed passwords, which are themselves difficult to hack. Nevertheless, Utah Gun Exchange has urged its users to change their login credentials in a statement posted to its website. It also urged users to watch for targeted phishing attacks, where scammers could potentially use the leaked emails to lure people into opening messages that contain malware or other bugs.

Credit card and other financial information is processed through PayPal, according to Utah Gun Exchange’s statement, and was not part of the hack.

The Utah Gun Exchange company hosts firearms classifieds and advocates for Second Amendment rights. It also runs UGETube, a video streaming website with pro-gun content. Owner Sam Robinson said his message frequently puts him in the crosshairs of would-be attackers.

“It’s not uncommon for me to receive threats to me personally or my business,” he said. “This attack is an example of that.”

Utah Gun Exchange gained prominence when it participated in a number of pro-Second Amendment rallies, including bringing its military-style armored vehicle to act as a counter to March for our Lives demonstrations in Salt Lake City and other U.S. cities.

Robinson said he has suspicions about who the hacker might be, but declined to comment further citing an ongoing investigation.

“It’s important to note that serious measures have been taken to harden the security of the websites,” Robinson said.

The data breach includes nearly 160,000 users from the main Utah Gun Exchange website as well as nearly 46,000 users from the company’s UGETube video website. Many of the users appear to be spam accounts.

It also includes about 25,000 users from Utah-based Deep Jungle Kratom, an herbal supplement company, and 16,000 users from the Muley Freak website, which sells hunting gear.

The hacker notes that all websites are associated with Utah Gun Exchange, but Robinson said his company has nothing to do with Deep Jungle Kratom or Muley Freak except that they apparently used the same Amazon website hosting services.

Email requests for comment to Deep Jungle Kratom and Muley Freak were not immediately returned Monday.

Utah Gun Exchange’s statement noted that all the exposed data from its sites “is information that is publicly available when an advertisement is posted” apart from the scrambled passwords.

The leaked databases show the information was generated shortly after midnight on July 17. It was posted to the hacker forum on Aug. 10. Utah Gun Exchange did not post its data breach statement until Monday afternoon, shortly after The Salt Lake Tribune requested comment.

The hack was first reported by Forbes in an online article posted Saturday.