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Mar-a-Lago's Facebook page apparently hacked following riot at US Capitol

'It's pretty embarrassing,' IT expert says
Mar-a-Lago, aerial picture from Chopper 5
Posted at 2:15 PM, Jan 11, 2021
and last updated 2021-01-11 14:14:59-05

PALM BEACH, Fla. — It appears the Facebook page of President Trump's private club in Palm Beach was recently hacked.

This comes after last week's riot at the U.S. Capitol where pro-Trump supporters disrupted the Electoral College certification by Congress, resulting in the deaths of five people, including a Capitol Police officer.

Photos then surfaced on Mar-a-Lago's page this weekend that showed a series of memes critical of Trump.

Below are some of the photos that were recently posted on the Mar-a-Lago Facebook page:

Alan Crowetz, CEO of Infostream and WPTV's internet security expert, said although this looks bad, it could have been much worse.

"They're kind of lucky. There's a lot of things you can do hacking a website that can cause financial and bigger damages than just damaging someone's reputation, so this is like graffitiing someone's office building," Crowetz said.

WEB EXTRA: WPTV's internet security expert speaks about apparent hack of Mar-a-Lago's Facebook page

Crowetz was surprised that the club's site was breached given past security issues at the club during Trump's tenure as president.

"How the heck hasn't there been major security review and overlook of this? I've seen news from a few years ago where they were talking about the Mar-a-Lago site and some other potential vulnerabilities out there, and it's been discussed in the past, but have they done a thorough security thing before now? Did they just wait to see if something happened or assume they were safe?" Crowetz asked. "It's pretty embarrassing."

This comes after House Democrats filed an article of impeachment Monday charging Trump with "incitement of insurrection" following the attack on the capitol.

Trump has previously said he plans to move to Mar-a-Lago after his presidency, but that has been met with opposition from local residents saying a 1993 agreement prohibits anyone from living there full time.